Assignment 3:
Exploring the limits of Sustainability Theory
• Next class we will explore
economics perspectives on
– Weak vs. strong sustainability
– Optimal rate of resource
consumption
• Assignment prepare a
presentation (10 minutes) on
– Resource which shows that
natural and human-made
resources are substitutable
(Weak Sust.)
or
– Resource which shows that
resources cannot be
substituted (Strong Sust.)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Engineering Systems Division
Department of Materials Science & Engineering
• Presentation should describe
– What is resource?
– How is it used?
– Why is scarcity of this
resource of concern?
– Evidence of position
• Do not choose resources which
are valued for
– Aesthetics (Art, Jewels)
– Existence (Paul Revere’s
House)
– Being Oil, Water, or FIsh
ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives
Randolph Kirchain
Sustainability: Slide 25