Early semester slide deck introducing the concept of sustainability and sustainable development

1. An Introduction to
Sustainability and
Systems
Tom Eggert
WI School of Business
tleggert@wisc.edu

2. Sustainable
Development
sustainable development is
development that meets the needs of
the present without compromising the
ability of the future generations to
meet their own needs.
~The Brundtland Commission 1987 (WCED
1987)

3. Sustainability
“Sustainability is equity over time. As a value, it
refers to giving equal weight in your decisions to
the future as well as the present. You might
think of it as extending the Golden Rule through
time, so that you do onto future generations (as
well as your present fellow beings) as you would
have them do onto you.”
Robert Gilman, Director, Context Institute

4. Sustainability
"A world that works
for 100% of humanity
in the shortest possible time
through cooperation
without ecological offense
or the disadvantage of anyone."
Buckminster Fuller

5. Sustainable
Development both a
Sustainable Development is
philosophy and pragmatic goal
based upon the principle that
healthy and sustainable human
systems emulate natural cycles,
where all outputs are simply an
input for another process. It
means designing and managing
resource extraction, materials
and production processes in
ways that conserve and recover

6. Sustainability:
Defining Traits
Sustainability considers the whole
instead of the specific.

7. Sustainability:
Defining Traits
Sustainability emphasizes relationships
rather than pieces in isolation.

8. Sustainability
sustainability is a political
choice, not a technical one.
It’s not a question of
whether we can be
sustainable, but whether we
choose to be

9. Sustainability &
Basic Science
• Matter and energy cannot appear or disappear
(Conservation law)
• Matter and energy tend to spread spontaneously
(2nd Law of Thermodynamics)
• Biological value lies in the concentration and
structure of matter (Syntropy)
– Green cells, through sun-driven processes
are essentially the only net producers of
concentration and structure
(Photosynthesis)

10. Principles of
Sustainability
A Framework for
Sustainability:
The Natural Step
†
†
†
†
Keep it in the crust
Don’t make nasty stuff
Don’t pave paradise
Be thrifty and fair

11. Principles of
Sustainability
William McDonough: Cradle to Cradle
• Waste = Food
• Adore Diversity
• Live on Current Solar Income
• Love all the Children

12. Principles of
Sustainability
Herman Daly
three rules for long-run sustainability:
-renewable resources cannot be used
faster than they regenerate.
-non-renewable resources cannot be used
faster than their waste products can be
broken down by nature.
-pollutants cannot be emitted at greater
rates than the environment can process
them.

13. Sustainability
1) Business needs a healthy, secure society and a
bountiful environment within which to
operate.
2) Healthy societies need businesses to provide
goods and services.
3) And the natural world is best protected when
businesses and societies are healthy.

14. Sustainability
in Action
Sustainable Companies
a sustainable company is a
company that will last—a company
that can maintain its value to society,
indefinitely.

15. Sustainability
what can we do to become more
sustainable?
quit thinking about [sustainability] as solely
an economic problem, but examine each
question in terms of what is ethically and
aesthetically right, as well as what is
economically expedient. a thing is right when
it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and
beauty of the biotic community.
it is wrong when it tends to do otherwise.
~Aldo Leopold

16. Sustainability
Sustainability is a journey, not a
destination.

17. A Bit on Systems
• Our current systems are on a collision
course with each other
• No one has “The Answer”.
• Many effectively articulate either only
the problem or only an argument
for “Business As Usual”.

18. “Prediction is very difficult,
especially about the future” –
Niels Bohr
“I think there is a world
market for maybe five
computers.”
--Thomas Watson (1943)
“Heavier-than-air flying
machines are
impossible.”
--Lord Kelvin (1895)
“This „telephone‟ has too
many shortcomings to be
seriously considered as a
means of communication.
The device is inherently of
no value to us.”
--Western Union (1876)
“Everything that can be invented has
been invented.” --Charles H. Duell (1899)
“Airplanes are interesting
toys but of no military
value.”
--Marshal Ferdinand Foch
“The wireless music box
has no imaginable
commercial value. Who
would pay for a message
sent to nobody in
particular?” --David Sarnoff
“Who the hell wants to
hear actors talk?”
--Harry M. Warner (1927)
“There is no reason for any individuals
to have a computer in their home.”
--Ken Olson (1977)

19. The Collision of Systems:
•
What’s Colliding?
– Financial (what we assume dominates)
– Social
– Natural

20. Why Systems Thinking?
"Systems thinking is a discipline for
seeing wholes. It is a framework for
seeing interrelationships rather than
things, for seeing patterns of change
rather than static 'snapshots'...
Peter Senge,The Fifth Discipline

21. Why Systems Thinking?
"Today systems thinking is needed more
than ever because we are becoming
overwhelmed by complexity.
Perhaps for the first time in history,
humankind has the capacity to create far
more information than anyone can
absorb, to foster far greater
interdependency than anyone can
manage, and to accelerate change far
faster than anyone's ability to keep pace."
Peter Senge,The Fifth Discipline

22. Systems Thinking Lessons
• The importance of each component of a system
is tied to its relationship to the whole. And the
essential properties of a living system (whether
an organism or community) are properties of the
whole.
• Nature does not show us isolated building
blocks, but rather a complex web of
relationships that become parts of
a unified whole.

23. Systems Thinking Lessons
• Human communities are all living systems,
supported and supplemented with almost an
infinite number of subsystems.
• Systems are reflected in the corporate,
governmental, and non-profit sectors.

24. Systems Thinking Lessons
• The power of systems thinking comes from a
focus on systemic structures, which is where the
greatest leverage for problem solving and
positive change lies.
• A systems approach can help shed light on
current problems—especially those that seem to
continually repeat—by viewing them from a
different perspective.
• Systems make change very difficult.
Systems protect themselves and
the status quo.

25. Systems Thinking Lessons
• Systems thinking requires us to understand
that while there is only one Earth, it is
composed of a multitude of subsystems all
interacting with each other.
• These subsystems are connected together
by intricate feedback
loops.

26. Systems Thinking
• Although environmentalists used to be concerned
primarily about running out of sources, today more
people are concerned about running out of sinks.
• Global warming, the ozone hole, and conflicts over
the international shipment of hazardous waste are
all problems that have arisen from our attempts to
dispose of resources faster than the natural sinks
can absorb
them.

27. Systems Thinking
• The purpose of this class is to help you find
the greatest levers for changing the systems
that have been created around the linear
take-make-waste production models and
mechanical organizational designs that
dominate most public and private
organizations today.

28. Systems Thinking
And remember, there is no Easy Button!