GEOG30019 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Sustainability Science, Ecological Footprint, Anthropocene
6 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
LECTURE 4: SCIENTIFIC FRAMINGS
• Framings as a lens of viewing a complex world in a particular way
o Simplifies, often obscures things
• How you frame sustainable development defines the response
Sustainability
• Bruntland - idea of triple bottom line, overlapping of three as SD
o Problematic as they don't have equal weighting, which change based on context
o Simplification of the problem
• Socio-ecological systems - new paradigm - Griggs 2013 - Nature - paper
Scientific Framings
• Science takes a realist framing - one reality, diff worldviews reduced to beliefs and culture
• Knowledge production comes through the scientific method
• Human/nature divide - nested but separated
• Bringing resilience and sustainability together:
o The capacity of a system to buffer change - socio-ecological systems are complex,
dynamic and integrated
Anthropocene
• Concept of the ecological footprint - idea of the carrying capacity - good in idea, yet so
inaccurate they do not count for real science
• Stewardship
o Fisheries: global fish catch has reached a plateau (FAO 2014)
o Change industrial players making them accountable for their actions, changing them to
be ocean stewards
Measuring Sustainability
• Using graphs and numbers to measure sustainability gives fear of scarcity
• Neo-Malthusian framing: population control inverse relationship to food availability
• Behavioural change - emotional responses diminishes rapidly after an issue impacts more than
2 people
o Change the framing of the stories, change the narrative
• Learning aspect of sustainability science - new tools for global collaboration - criticised as local
sustainability is more pertinent
• Governing with ethics - acknowledge the normative practice which should be taken into
account in science discussions
• Systemic views of nature and society - acknowledging the new role in humanity in shaping the
earths systems
• Change on a local scale - change values through a bottom-up approach
• Taking it to a global scale allows people to push away responsibility from themselves
• Practical approach to sustainable development - how does it actually look to have a
participatory approach
• Behavioural change through small incentives
• Interaction between cultural heritage maintenance and environmental conservation - how can
these be combined to meet sustainable development incentives
• Personal emotional level - to create stewardship - important on the local/community scale
• Shift towards solutions - how does this look in real life - change from theory to practical - need
to account to a range of things
Document Summary
Framings as a lens of viewing a complex world in a particular way: simplifies, often obscures things, how you frame sustainable development defines the response. Sustainability: bruntland - idea of triple bottom line, overlapping of three as sd, problematic as they don"t have equal weighting, which change based on context, simplification of the problem. Socio-ecological systems - new paradigm - griggs 2013 - nature - paper. Anthropocene: concept of the ecological footprint - idea of the carrying capacity - good in idea, yet so inaccurate they do not count for real science. Stewardship: fisheries: global fish catch has reached a plateau (fao 2014, change industrial players making them accountable for their actions, changing them to be ocean stewards. Measuring sustainability: using graphs and numbers to measure sustainability gives fear of scarcity, neo-malthusian framing: population control inverse relationship to food availability, behavioural change - emotional responses diminishes rapidly after an issue impacts more than.
