4b.
The sustainable city

 

Biking in the city of Västerås, Sweden

 

A city may be regarded as an ecosystem. Just as any ecosystem the city needs energy, there is a flow of resources into the system, such as food and other resources, and there is waste to be taken care of. All these aspects need to be made in a sustainable way, that is, to use the physical and biological conditions for sustainability. (See also Chapter 1c). This approach asks for recycling of all or most resource flows, and the use of renewable energy and other resources.

It is possible to make resource management more efficient in a densely populated environment. The heating of buildings, distribution of water, and collection of wastewaters and the management of solid waste is made more efficient in a city. Thus, district heating, wastewater purification, and solid waste recycling and management are essential skills in a future sustainable city. The most advanced cities may even be or work to become energy self-sufficient.

The energy provided to the city is of three kinds: Heat to keep buildings warm and nice during cold days; electricity to run all kinds of machinery, to provide lighting etc; and finally fuel, e.g. for transport. In district heating, where a single power plant is providing hot water to the entire city though a system of pipelines, is by far the most efficient way to heat most cities. It is also a better system for cleaning flue gases, obviously better than a multitude of single-house boilers. It also offers co-generation: that is, the plants may produce both heat and electricity with an efficiency of fuel use up to some 85%. Its sustainability then depends on the fuel used. Waste incineration may account for a considerable part in most cities. Other fuels include peat and biofuels such as wood chips. The buildings are also important as they may be more or less energy efficient as well as providing their own heat (see below). Other sources of electricity may be either local (e.g. solar cells) or distant (e.g. large hydropower plants).

BedZed is UK's largest eco-village. CC Photo: Tom Chance.

 

The urban water is extracted from ground or surface water. It needs to be used efficiently (less than 100-200 lit/day/capita) as it takes some energy and sometimes chemicals to produce it. Wastewater contains effluents from toilets and kitchen, and wastewater treatment is therefore an important part of the nutrient flows. The wastewater treatment produces an organic residual, the sludge. It should ideally go back to agricultural fields as an important source of phosphorus, but may also be used for biogas production.

The most important to say on waste is that it should be avoided. The waste hierarchy says, “reduce, reuse, recycle”. In households, source separation of waste is essential to make recycling possible. Organic waste may go to composting, biogas production or waste incineration. (See further Chapter 5c).

A central issue in habitation and cities are the buildings. These are not only the homes of the inhabitants and therefore a key issue for social sustainability, but they are also key components in the resource flow of a city. They go from simple shelters to large and well functioning houses. In the global south, access to a decent home is often the most critical concern. In the Baltic Sea region, almost everyone has a decent home, but there is still much to be done to improve the performance of buildings. Energy performance goes from passive and low energy houses to badly functioning buildings. Especially in countries where fossil fuels dominate energy supply, it is important that the energy performance of buildings is improved. Houses may become very old, and the reuse and retrofitting of them are important skills for sustainability. In the best case, buildings may contribute significantly to create its own physical resources. Solar panels on roofs may produce much of the hot water needed, and solar cells some of the electricity.

 

The Warsaw Metro

 

For cities, a well functioning traffic and transport system, consisting of a clever mix of modes, is a key to improved sustainability. The private car now dominating and congesting the traffic scapes of many cities could only have a limited role in this mix. Public alternatives, such as metro, buses, trams and sometimes boats, are essential. Walking and cycling should be promoted, since they are good for health, economy, and environment. The electric car, now developed, is expected to dominate car traffic in the future. The electric motor is some 4 times more efficient than combustion and much less polluting. In addition, the need for transport, both of persons and goods, should be reduced, for example by using more information technologies, and increasing the local share of the economy.

There is in most cities a debate on green contra dense. Greenery in cities plays an important role as they provide a number of ecosystem services. Most significant is that they allow the inhabitants to enjoy the green areas for their wellbeing – proven in much research – and social services, such as recreation, play, culture, beauty, sports, etc. They also contribute to better air (ventilation) and temperature regulation. Finally, biological diversity, especially trees, for the young generation to get to know biology while in the city. Greenery includes not only parks but also trees, bushes and small lawns along streets, roads, and parking areas etc. Green areas may also in addition be created on roofs, both for covering the house and for cultivation of food. Surface water – ponds, rivers, lakes, and coasts – is often included in greenery and is an important element in many cities, especially in the Baltic Sea region, and living along water is attractive.

 

Materials for session 4b

Basic level

1. Read A Sustainable Baltic Region, session 7, chapter 3: City Metabolism – Resource Flow Management.
2. Read BUUF Guidebook 2: Energy Management, chapter 3: Energy Efficient Houses.
   
3. Read BUUF Guidebook 5: Green Structures in the Sustainable City, chapter 2: Urban Green Structure – A hidden resource.
4. Read BUUF Guidebook 4: Traffic and Transport, chapter 6: Policy Measures for Sustainable Urban Transport.
5. Read A Sustainable Baltic Sea Region, session 7, chapter 8: Approaches to Sustainable Habitation.
6. Get to know Güssing in Austria as a brilliant success story.
7. The Model Region of Güssing – an Example of the Austrian Grassroots Strategy for Energy Independence.
8. Güssing (YouTube film) as a Model for regional Economic Improvement.

Medium level (widening)

9. Study the resource base of sustainability in cities in Superbs Case Studies, Volume 1: Basic Patterns of Sustainability, chapter 4: The City as a Sustainable Living System.
10. Study Urbanism, Chapter 10 in Challenges of Sustainable Development in Poland, edited by Jakub Kronenberg and Tomasz Bergier.

Advanced level (deepening)

11. Study the situation in a chosen city by collecting data on energy, water, waste, traffic, and greenery. Data on several cities are found in the BUUF project city reports.
    BUUF City Status Report 1: Water Management
    BUUF City Status Report 2: Energy Management
    BUUF City Status Report 3: Waste Management
    BUUF City Status Report 4: Traffic and Transport
    BUUF City Status Report 5: Urban Green Structures

 

Additional Material

The US based company Intelligent Power Partners, which works with how municipalities and micro-grids acquire, distribute, and use electricity, has produced several films on sustainable urban development. Some of the BUP teachers like to use them for their classes on urban development. They show efficiently the problems of conversion of cities to sustainability, however they rely very much on high-tech solution. Please see this link to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jkellyx6.

 

References

Andersson, H. (ed.).1997. Cities and Communities. A Sustainable Baltic Region. Session 7. Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

Engström, C. J. (ed.). 2001. The City and City Life. Superbs Book 1. Baltic University Press., Uppsala.

Jakobsson, C. and J. Lemming (eds.). 2007. Energy Management. Baltic University Urban Forum. Urban Management Guidebook II. Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

Kronenberg, J. and T. Bergier (eds.). 2010. Challenges of Sustainable Development in Poland. Sendzimir Foundation, Centre for Systems Solution, Wrocław, Poland.

Rydén, L. (ed.). 2002. Basic Patterns of Sustainability. Superbs Case Studies, Volume 1. Baltic University Press. Uppsala.

Rydén, L. (ed.). 2007. Traffic and Transport. Baltic University Urban Forum. Urban Management Guidebook IV. Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

Wlodarczyk. D. (ed.). 2007. Green Structure in Development of the Sustainable City. Baltic University Urban Forum. Urban Management Guidebook V. Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

 

BUP Sustainable Development Course

 

 

4c.
Urban sustainability policies, strategies and management systems

 

In the Agenda 21 document from the Rio UNCED 1992 Conference the local perspective is considered essential to achieve sustainability. On this basis local authorities all over the world were encouraged to set up long-term action plans for sustainable development, the so-called Local Agenda 21 (LA21). Such action plans were adopted by thousands of local authorities around the world in the following years. Today 6400 municipalities in 113 countries have done so.

A number of organisations were created to support the local sustainability work. ICLEI, Local Governments for Sustainability, was formed in 1990 as the 'International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives', presently with 1220 local government members. Within the European Union The Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaignwas founded in 1994 as an umbrella organisation of associations of local authorities working with sustainability issues. It is supported bythe European Commission and has an office in Brussels. Through its member organisations, such as ICLEI, more than 2500 local and region governments with more than 500 million inhabitants are included in the Campaign. In the Baltic Sea region the Union of Baltic Cities, UBC, with 106 member cities is a key actor.

Among the policy documents for local sustainability work Chapter 28 in Agenda 21 forms the base. Soon after the Rio conference the Aalborg charter was written as a founding statement for the European Sustainable Cities and Towns campaign. It includes commitments in 10 areas to be signed by members. On the global scale the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, was established in 1978 by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. At the Habitat II conference in Istanbul, Turkey, 1996 171 countries adopted the Habitat Agenda with over 100 commitments and 600 recommendations.

Within the European Union a main actor is CEMR, the Council of European Municipalities & Regions. CEMR has within EU the same legal status as the European Parliament and thus may influence all decision in the Union. The European Union adopted in 2006 a thematic strategy on the urban environment to contribute to a better implementation of existing EU environment policies and legislation. The strategy encourages local authorities to adopt a more integrated approach to urban management.

Each local authority, large or small, has an administration to execute its duty as authority but also to plan and often carry out the development of the city. Local sustainability work requires a considerable independence. The economic and legal competence of the local authorities varies enormously. Nordic municipalities have much independence, as they collect local taxes as well as charges (for water, waste etc) and have many duties, such as education, healthcare and local services. In other countries many of these duties belong to the state level. All municipalities typically have a planning monopoly. Thus urban planning is always made locally.

Which strategies have cities adopted to achieve sustainable development? This varies considerably. Typically we see the same as in production and consumption. Thus reduce resource use, replace non-sustainable resources such as oil, and re-scale e.g. up-scaling by introducing district heating or down-scaling by using local resources. However integrating and recycling, e.g. by using organic waste for biogas production and using biogas for buses in the public transport system, is a very efficient measure. More advanced cities create self-reliant neighbourhoods, develop public transport considerably, and improve the urban/rural interface.

Management refers to how a strategy is implemented, which steps are made to realize projects. Management systems are typically set up as a series of management cycles, often 3 years long, based on the Deming cycle, Plan-Do-Check-Act, which puts emphasis on continuous improvement. The many varieties of urban sustainability management include the Managing Urban Europe-25 initiative worked out by 25 European local and regional authorities during 2006-2008. It points out that political commitment is an essential, but too often weak component in the management cycles.

There are several management systems for local authorities. All systems ask for a series of indicators to be chosen, which should be continuously monitored over time and reported. Cities typically have tens to hundreds of indicators. They also ask for visions for the sustainability work. To establish what to achieve at the end of a specific management cycle, the target, one may do back-casting from the adopted vision to the present. It is possible for local authorities, just as it is for any organization, to use a standardized management system, such as EMAS or ISO 14001 to receive international certification according to the standard chosen.

In the management work the integrated approaches are essential. They are so far most common for the material turnover (water, energy and waste), although best would be if all aspects, including economic and social aspects, were included. A participatory system is asked for in the policy documents. This is partly required by law, but may be wider if cities encourage their inhabitants to take part in the sustainability work as widely as possible. In public-private partnerships also the business world contributes to city development.

 

Building blocks of community-based natural resource management. http://www.idrc.ca/

 

Materials for session 4c

Basic level

1. Read Environmental Science, chapter 25: The Prospect of Sustainable Development, page 786: Sustainable Urban Development
2. Study Tools for Integrated Sustainability Management in Cities and Towns by Lars Rydén.
3. Read A Sustainable Baltic Region. session 7, chapter 6, pages 37-40: Environmental Auditing and Management
4. Read SUPERBS Case Studies Volume III: Public Participation and Democracy, chapter 1, pages 4-14: Implementing Local Agenda 21 in the Baltic Sea Region by Björn Grönholm.

Medium level (widening)

5. Read SUPERBS Case Studies, volume I, chapter 1: A Strong Municipality by Madeleine Granvik.
6. Read SUPERBS Case Studies, volume I, chapter 2: Cultures of Municipal Administration by Madeleine Granvik and Inger Christoferson.
7. Read SUPERBS Case Studies, volume I, chapter 3: Urban Growth and Long Term Planning by Madeleine Granvik and Mia Forsberg.
8. Read Environmental Management, book 4, pages 241 - 250, Case Study 6: An ISO-certified System for Quality and Environmental Management in the Municipality of Nacka, Sweden.

Advanced level (deepening)

9. Read and compare: The Aalborg Charter and Aalborg committments.
10. Read and compare the EU Thematic strategy on urban environment.
11. Read and compare the UBC and the EUSBSR.

 

Additional material

1. Read the book SUPERBS Case Studies Volume IV: Urban Environmental Management
   
   SUPERBS Case Studies, Volume IV, Chapter 1: Municipal Environmental Audit - The UBC Manual as a Tool to Develop Local Environmental Management Applied in the Finnish Cities of Turku and Pori by Mikko Jokinen and Matti Lankiniemi.
   
   SUPERBS Case Studies, Volume IV, Chapter 2: Local Sustainability Indicators - The Development and Monitoring of Six Local Indicators in Kaunas by Linas Kliucininkas.
   
   SUPERBS Case Studies, Volume IV, Chapter 3: Waste Management and Nutrient Flows in the City of Turku - A Detailed N and P Flow Study to Estimate the Capacity of Biowaste Sorting to Contribute to Nutrient Recycling by Toni Tikkanen.
   
   SUPERBS Case Studies Volume IV, Chapter 4: Air Pollution and Damages to the Cultural Heritage in Cities - The Decay of the Cultural Heritage of Kraków by Wanda Wilczynska-Michalik.
   
   SUPERBS Case Studies, Volume IV, Chapter 5: Health Concerns in Environmental Management - The City of Kaunas' Health Profile by Juozas Kameneckas.
   
   SUPERBS Case Studies, Volume IV, Chapter 6: Living in the 21st Century - The Ecological Community of Braamwisch by Silvia Schubert.
   
   
   
2. Read the book SUPERBS Case Studies Volume III: Public Participation and Democracy.
   
   SUPERBS Case Studies, Volume III, Chapter 1: Implementing Local Agenda 21 in the Baltic Sea Region - The Case of Turku and Southwest Finland by Björn Grönholm.
   
   SUPERBS Case Studies, Volume III, Chapter 2: Livani - The Inhabitants as a Resource for Development by Visvaldis Gercans and Arnold Ubelis.
   
   SUPERBS Case Studies, Volume III, Chapter 3: Efforts to Create a Sustainable Economic Development in Livani by Visvaldis Gercans and Arnold Ubelis.
   
   SUPERBS Case Studies, Volume III, Chapter 4: Public Awareness and Public Participation as Elements in Strategies for Development by Arnold Ubelis.
   
   SUPERBS Case Studies, Volume III, Chapter 5: Urban Planning and Democracy in Post-Soviet Jelgava by Mara Urtane.
   
   SUPERBS Case Studies, Volume III, Chapter 6: Promoting Public Participation in Urban Planning by Mara Urtane.
   
   SUPERBS Case Studies, Volume III, Chapter 7: Democratic Development in Veliky Novgorod by Serguei Bessonov, Boris Shvedchikov and Denis Repkin.

 

References

Andersson, H. (ed.).1997. Cities and Communities. A Sustainable Baltic Region. Session 7. Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

Rydén, L. 2008. Tools for Integrated Sustainability Management in Cities and Towns. Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

Rydén, L. (ed.). 2002. Basic Patterns of Sustainability. SUPERBS Case Studies Volume I. Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

Rydén, L. (ed.). 2003. Public Participation and Democracy. SUPERBS Case Studies Volume III. Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

Rydén, L. (ed.). 2003. Urban Environmental Management. SUPERBS Case Studies Volume IV. Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

Rydén, L., Migula, P. and M. Andersson (eds). 2003. Environmental Science - understanding, protecting and managing the environment in the Baltic Sea region. Baltic University Press. Uppsala, Sweden.

Weiß, P. and J. Bentlage. 2006. Environmental Management Systems and Certification. Book 4 in a series on Environmental Management. Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

 

BUP Sustainable Development Course

 

 

5a.
Manufacturing – sustainable production

 

Factory smokestacks. Kunda, Lääne-Viru county, Estonia 1993. CC Photo: Curt Carnemark / World Bank

 

In its beginning industrial production was connected to chimneys with dirty smoke, effluents to rivers and mountains of bad-smelling solid waste. This has been improved over the years but still in the end of the last century industrial production caused much pollution. This is obviously not sustainable and has to change. An equally important aspect is the resource use in industrial production, may it be metal ore, biomass such as wood, or the large amounts of energy, quite often fossil. In contrast sustainable production deals with how to improve and manage production in a manner which is resource efficient, non-polluting and produces products which themselves are environmentally friendly and sustainable.

The importance of developing sustainable production and consumption patterns cannot be overstated. It was singled out in the 1992 UNCED Rio conference as the main reason for the global environmental crisis and in the Plan of Implementation at the Johannesburg conference it was a main concern. In Agenda 21 we read: The major cause of the continued deterioration of the global environment is the unsustainable pattern of consumption and production, particularly in industrialized countries.

Production is part of a system. It needs to be seen together with the resources extracted, the products produced and how they are used, and finally the waste, which all products eventually will become. This is the life-cycle of a product. In this session on sustainable production and consumption we will cover each of these life stages from resources to waste. Here we will just note that the pattern of production in industrial society is using enormous amounts of natural resources, is often inefficient and leads to waste accumulation. To become sustainable production needs to be much more like what we see in nature: in nature resources are recycled, energy is based on sun, and products are extremely efficient.

Environmental impact along the life cycle is calculated according to well-established methods in a so-called Life Cycle Assessment, LCA. LCA is much used to compare different production methods or products. A classical question to be answered by an LCA is “Is it better to use a reusable glass or a through-away plastic bottle for drinks?” The comparison needs to take into account the resource used for producing the glass bottle including energy, transporting it back to the factory, cleaning it, while the plastic bottle only uses the oil to make plastic. In a classical analysis it turned out that the glass bottle needs to be reused 11 times to be better.

LCA results often show some 10 different parameters such as resource use, energy use, waste, different emissions etc. The difficulty is where to set the system borders, i.e. what to include, since each of the material used in turn have been produced and their effects need to be included. Even if a proper complicated LCA is not conducted each person should consider, be aware of, the life cycle of products. Life cycle thinking is the beginning of a systems approach to production. LCA can be seen as both a management tool and as a way to integrate environmental concern into product development.

 

"Life-cycle chain from extraction - through production - to consumption and waste.
Source: EEA, ETC Sustainable Consumption and Production.

 

Pollution from industries was long understood as merely a constraint from the environment and thus a burden and a cost for the production. The so-called end-of-pipe approach was used to combat pollution. End-of-pipe means that effluents, emissions and waste are treated to remove pollutants. But eventually it was understood that pollution was rather a sign that the production processes themselves were not working well. The resources should be used for products not pollutants! The change of production processes to non-polluting and resource efficient processes is called cleaner production, CP measures. Cleaner production is in the economic, environmental and social interest of producers and have since the 1990s been implemented in many industries.

The introduction of cleaner production methods, and related methods such as waste minimization, pollution prevention, etc is normally done using a management system. It asks for systematic measurements of the flow of resources, of products and by-products, etc. followed by systematic projects to deal with them, and a follow-up. Management cycles are based on the simple series “plan-do-check-act”, the so-called Deming cycle. One should repeat the cycle, most often each third year, each turn focusing on some important problem. The Environmental Management Systems, EMS, have since the 1990s been standardized to permit external checks, i.e. environmental audits, and the possibilities for certification. The most common EMS system is ISO 14001. ISO stands for the International Organisation for Standardzation; the system is recognised internationally. A company or other actor (such as a university) that has a certification according to 14001 is working systematically to improve its environmental profile; it is not necessarily yet very good in environmental performance, but certainly getting better.

The ideal production scheme should not only be non-polluting. Its products should also be possible to use for a new cycle of production. This is called C2C, or cradle to cradle. Here the resource flow does not lead from cradle to grave (too often the landfill) but rather becomes a new cradle. The resources used by the industry are then old (wasted) products. While the cleaner production methods aims to improve a process to be “less bad”, the C2C approach is to “be good”, that is contribute to the environment. It is not only a vision. Today many hundreds of companies have been certified as C2C companies.

When the outlets from one industry are used as a resource in another it is called industrial symbiosis or sometimes industrial ecology. This pattern of cooperation is most often seen in agriculture, but it can be done in many kinds of industries.

 

Textile industry in Poland. Photo (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0): Steve McNicholas.

As the effects of pollution and resource depletion have become more serious, the environmental laws of countries have become stronger. In particular European Union law has been of great importance for improving the environmental performance both of business and the public sector. The increasing environmental threats demand new measures to improve the management of economic activities. That, in turn, prescribes the necessity to take into account ecological requirements in production, development of new products, and management of technological processes, as well as personal and financial management.

 

Materials for session 5a

Basic level

1. Read Environmental Management, book 2, chapter 3, pages 59–69: Industry and Industrial History in the Baltic Sea Region.
2. Read Environmental Management, book 2, chapter 1, pages 27-46: Industrial Impact on the Environment.
3. Read A Sustainable Baltic Region, session 5, chapter 1, pages 5-10: Environmental Challenges for Industry in the Baltic Sea Region.
4. Read A Sustainable Baltic Region. session 5, chapter 4, page 32: Life Cycle Assessment - LCA of Dipers.
5. Read Environmental Management, book 2, chapter 1, pages 19-25: Introduction: Cleaner Production.
6. Read Environmental Management, book 4, chapter 1, pages 19-26: Basics of Environmental Management Systems.
7. Watch Cleantech investments in Eastern Europe – NEFCO (YouTube film).
8. A presentation by Lars Rydén on: Cleaner Production.
9. A presentation by Lars Rydén on: Cleantech Production and Consumption.
10. Watch Ecoprint - a film on Ecoprint, a printhouse in Estonia (YouTube film).
11. The Story of Stuff - This is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns (YouTube film).

Medium level (widening)

12. Basic concepts
    Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Targets and Indicators and the SDGs IISD International Institute for Sustainable Development (UN)
    European Sustainable Consumption and Production Policies EU Commission DG Environment (EU)
13. Read Environmental Management, book 2, chapter 11, pages 155-164: Green Engineering.
14. Read Environmental Management, book 2, chapter 12, pages 165-178: Green Chemistry.
15. Read Environmental Management, book 3, chapter 5, pages 87-96: Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment.
16. Read Environmental Management, book 4, chapter 2, pages 27-35: Overview of Environmental Standards.
17. Watch William McDonough author of Cradle to Cradle (YouTube film).

Advanced level (deepening)

18. Read Environmental Management, book 2, chapter 4, pages 71-86: Cleaner Production Assessment.
19. Read Environmental Management, book 4, chapter 9, pages 85-94: Integrated and Simplified Management Systems.
    
20. Study in some detail two cases – Select from Environmental Management, Book 4: Systems and Certification, Case studies:
    Case 1: Kunda Nordic Tsement Ltd.
    Case 2: Huta Stali Czestochowa
    Case 3: Cologne Wastewater Treatment Plants
    Case 4: Gamla Uppsala Buss AB
    Case 5: University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz
    Case 6: Municipality of Nacka
    Case 7: Nina Printhouse
21. Study some cases of environmentally clever productions from the Blue Economy (ZERI in Action, Zero Emissions Research Institute).

 

References

Nilsson, L., Persson, P. O., Rydén, L., Darozhka, S. and A. Zaliauskiene. 2007. Cleaner Production - Technologies and Tools for Resource Efficient Production Environmental Management Book 2, Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

Strahl, J. 1997. A Life Cycle Assessment of Diapers. In: Strahl. J. (ed.). 1997. Sustainable Industrial Production - Waste minimization, cleaner technology and industrial ecology. A Sustainable Baltic Region. Session 5.

Weiß, P. and J. Bentlage. 2006. Environmental Management Systems and Certification. Environmental Management Book 4, Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

Zbicinski, I., Stavenuiter, J., Kozlowska, B. and H.P.M. van de Coevering. 2006. Product Design and Life Cycle Assessment. Environmental Management Book 3. Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

 

BUP Sustainable Development Course

 

5b.
Consumption – sustainable use of products

 

The affluence and easy access to all kinds of commodities in our societies is certainly part of our welfare. But there is also a downside to this. Industrialized societies are consumption societies; consumption may even become a meaning of life. The flow of resources is enormous. Counted per capita, it is today larger than the carrying capacity of the Earth. We are living in an era of overshoot and over-consumption, which is not sustainable. The use of resources is often expressed by the so-called ecological footprint (See further Chapter 3c). It is the surface area of the Earth needed to create the resources used. It is expressed in global hectares (gha). In the Baltic Sea region, we use on average 3-5 gha per capita. The space available on earth (with 7 billion inhabitants) is about 1.8 gha/capita. Others have smaller footprints, as e.g. most Africans, but still for the planet as a whole the footprint is too large. In 2011 the global population used close to 1.5 planets.

The affluence, which makes this possible, was in the West largely created between 1955 and 1975. In this period the flow of material of all kinds – energy, water, minerals, fertilizers, etc – increased by about 3 times or more. Later, the flow levelled off to increase much less steeply. Since the early 1980s the world as a whole is in a period of overshoot, meaning that we use more resources than are created; that is, we live on loans. The overshoot is due to fossil fuel use, overfishing, deforestation etc. The overshoot is still increasing.

 

Shopping is an important part of life in the consumer society

 

Several ways have been tried to address the problem of overconsumption. We will touch on those, which are concerned with the products themselves, in this session. The question of consumption and lifestyle is treated in Chapter 10.

Decoupling means that you may deliver a service or goods while consuming fewer resources than before. A typical case is if instead of travelling to see someone, you meet virtually using the Internet. This is increasingly used and reduces travelling. But as many more meetings are made, travelling is still increasing. This is called the rebound effect. The relative number of travels per meetings is reduced, but the total number of travels is still increasing. In many areas we have in this way obtained relative decoupling, but much more seldom absolute decoupling. (See further Chapter 3c)

Another way to reduce resource flow is to use products together instead of individually. Thus, if many use a common printer instead of each one having his/her own, the material flow decreases. Another example is if many car owners use bus instead of their individual cars, the footprint of everyone is decreasing dramatically. In real life, the tendency is the opposite: each one who can afford has his/her own car. And overshoot increases! An opposite trend is, however, car sharing or car-pooling, increasingly common in large cities.

Product design can make much to reduce footprints. Eco design is a systematic method to design products not only according to form, colour or material, but also desirable environmental properties. Eco designed products may be dematerialized, that is having less material, be more compact, than ordinary products; they may have less toxic materials; they may have longer lives for example by being easy to repair; be more energy efficient during use; and they may have a better end-of-life, e.g. be easier to recycle. Some aspects of eco-design we meet daily, e.g. energy efficient lamp bulbs, smaller computers, toys without toxins. Some of these properties are mandatory according to environmental law.

A very important aspect is a product’s end-of-life. The waste management hierarchy tells us that best is reducing (fewer products, e.g. by sharing resources), next best reuse (repairable products) and then recycle, which means that the material in the product can be reused.

Environmentally friendly products are often called green products. There are a number of organizations, which provide green products with an eco-label to indicate that they meet set standards for that label. Well known labels include that European Union flower and the Nordic Swan, developed by the Nordic Council.

The big consumers, such as municipalities, state authorities and large companies may adopt a policy of buying green products, quite significant since they buy for the millions or billions. This is called green procurement, meaning that they choose a product or a service that has a lower environmental impact in comparison with other products or services fulfilling the same functions. Life cycle costs calculation is used as a basic. Companies which pride themselves for thoughtful care of the environment may use green procurement to ensure that they do business in an environmentally responsible way. Also, as a private person, one may decide to buy green products. It sends a clear signal to the producer that there is a market for such products, and they will increase compared to the less green alternatives.

According to much research the largest environmental impact we make as consumers is caused by our living (houses and how they are heated for example), our food (e.g. meat has a much larger footprint than vegetarian meals) and travelling (air travel has the largest footprint per km while e.g. biking is very environmentally friendly). These areas need to be looked at with some care to be sure that all possible improvements have been made. Best is if one makes a proper estimation of the ecological footprint or a similar measure to quantify the differences.

Materials for session 5b

Basic level

1. Read Environmental Management, book 3, chapter 7, pages 111-115: Ready-Made Methods for Life Cycle Impact Assessment Methods.
2. Ecological footprint – Global footprint network.
3. Overshoot and carrying capacity. Earth Overshoot Day is coming!
4. Read Environmental Management, book 3, chapter 2: Resource Flow and Product Design.
5. Read the last chapter: Decoupling and rebound in: A Sustainable Baltic Region, session 9.
6. Read Environmental Management, book 3, chapter 3: Strategies for Ecodesign.
7. Read Environmental Management, book 3, chapter 13: Green Marketing and Eco-Labelling.

Medium level (widening)

8. Read Environmental Management, book 3, chapter 15: Product-Related Environmental Policies.
9. Read Environmental Management, book 3, chapter 4: Implementing Eco-Design.
10. Explore the concept of biomimicry (e.g. on Biomimicry Institute)
11. Study some examples of sustainable products and judge how good they are (e.g. at Biothinking)

Advanced level (deepening)

12. Read Environmental Management, book 3, chapter 9: Applying LCA – Comparing Two Windows.
13. Read Environmental Management, book 3, case study 3: Eco-Buildings – European Projects for Ecological Building, Germany and Sweden
14. Study certification systems for buildings on the Internet LEED, BREEAM, Nordic Swan.

 

Additional Material

Eco-labelling is an important strategy within the European Union work for Sustainable Production and Consumption, as briefly shown in the first film. The second film shows the case of a small Estonian printing company, EcoPrint.

Film 1: Sustainable consumption & production: a greener world (YouTube film)
Film 2: Ecoprint (YouTube film)

 

References

Rydén, L. (ed.) 1997. The Foundations of Sustainable Development – Ethics, law, culture and the physical boundaries. A Sustainable Baltic Region. Session 9. Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

Wackernagel, M., Schulz, N.B., Deumling, D., Callejas Linares, A., Jenkins, M., Kapos, V., Monfreda, C., Loh, J., Myers. M., Norgaard, R. and J. Randers. 2002. Tracking the ecological overshoot of the human economy. PNAS vol. 99  no. 14: 9266–9271. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.142033699

Zbicinski, I., Stavenuiter, J., Kozlowska, B. and H.P.M. van de Coevering. 2006. Product Design and Life Cycle Assessment. Environmental Management, Book 3. Baltic University Press, Uppsala.

 

BUP Sustainable Development Course