http://www.netlingo.com/more
/poptick.html
http://myfootprint.org/
Ecological Footprint
Analysis
…is an accounting tool that enables us
to estimate the resource consumption
and waste assimilation requirements of
a defined human population or economy
in terms of a corresponding productive
land area.
The Ecological
Footprint
Standard for sustainability: achieving
the environmental efficiency that
allows us to live within the earth’s
carrying capacity
Hong Kong’s Ecological Footprint
 What
is Hong Kong’s per capita ecological
footprint?
 How dependent is Hong Kong for its food, fuel,
and material supplies? Or for its sewage
impact?
 How does Hong Kong’s per capita ecological
footprint compare to world average and to the
world’s per capita ecologically productive land
and sea allowance?
Hong Kong’s Ecological Dependency
Appropriated Km2 Local
Land/Sea Area Production
Km2 China
(Guangdong)
Km2 Rest of
World
Km2 Total
Food
1040
26240
42070
69350
Forest
--
--
13900
13900
Fish and
Seafood
14220
68080
125010
207310
Assimilation
of CO2
90100 to
236250
Total Area
Demands
15260
94320
275300
332150 to
478300
Nitrogen
Discharges
51435 tonnes
37785 tonnes
53820 tonnes
143040 tonnes
Hong Kong’s Per Capita Footprint in Comparison
Country
World’s per capita allowance
Per Capita
Rank
Footprint (ha)
2.0-2.2
average
World’s per capita share
2.85
overshoot
Hong Kong
7.14
13
China
1.8
79
United States
12.22
3
Singapore
12.35
2
Japan
5.94
21
Philippines
1.42
90
Taiwan
4.34
41
Society
Driver and shaper of business
demand, and therefore of impacts
on the environment
Sustainable Development as Integration
Technology
Environment
Industrial
Industrial
Ecology
Ecology
Politics
Society
Industrial
Environment
Economy
Business
Ecology  Environmental
Management
Product, Material, &
Energy Flow in an
Industry
Materials
Processing
Product
Assembly
Social Infrastructure:
Gov’t, industry assoc.s,
Distribution
NGOs, etc.
Resource
Extraction
Recycling
Material &
Energy Inputs
Parts
Manufacture
Pollution
Outputs
Physical Infrastructure:
roads, sewers, land use,
electricity, etc.
Materials
Collection
Consumption
Why does society play the
central role?
Environmental equity is the core of
sustainable development
 Resource allocation
 Responsibility and action
 Mobilization for change
Why does society play the
central role?



Society shapes quantitative and qualitative demand on
environment
Directly through consumption and indirectly through
influence on technology, economy, and politics
Business has to respond and adapt its influence
Foundation Definitions
1. Society: large scale (national, city); interaction
based on shared values and beliefs, but indirect
and legal relationships
2. Community: small scale (village, town, church,
team, company); interaction based on shared
values and beliefs, but more intimate and informal
Society Outline
Dilemmas
 Overshoot and social trajectories
 Explaining consumption
Responses
 Social Movements
 Community
Social Trajectories and Environment
We want to understand what forms of social interaction
compel society to damage the environment and how it
they can be changed.

Growth
 Values
 Feedback


Positive
Negative
The Threat
Overshoot: going beyond a
limit without intending to.
 Resources
(sources): over-exploitation
 Pollution sink: exceeding assimilation capacity
The
consequences of
overshoot:
collapse
Other Examples of Overshoot:
The ozone layer
Global warming
The sixth extinction
Ocean fisheries
Desertification
Population
The Social Construction of
Overshoot
The IPAT Equation
IMPACT = POPULATION x
AFFLUENCE x TECHNOLOGY
Population
(Demography)
 Population size,
 Structure of population
 Causes of change
Population Projections to
2050

High: (Present) 2.6 children per woman=
10.6 billion

Medium: (Falling to) 2.1 children per woman=
9.1 billion

Low: (Falling to) 1.6 children per woman=
7.6 billion
The
Demographic
Transition
Stages of Demographic Transition





Stage 1: Stable population levels because of a steady state of high birth and death
rates (stage 1); sanitation, health care, nutrition, and wealth are limited; subsistence
agriculture;
Stage 2: Rapid population growth because of high birth and low death rates;
primarily a decrease in childhood deaths; better agricultural techniques, food
supply, and education; Nigeria, Indonesia, Bangladesh.
Stage 3: Falling rate of increase because of falling birth rates; specialization of
agriculture, industrialization, and urbanization; government policy, contraception,
female education and rights; China; India.
Stage 4: Equalization of low birth and death rates creating stable population;
increasing costs of raising children and priority given to consumption; Sweden,
France;
Stage 5: Decreasing population because of lower births than deaths; cost of urban
living and shifting priorities; Hong Kong, Japan, Italy.
Why the difference between India and
China?
Affluence (and Consumption)
 Increases
throughput of resources and
energy
 Private and public consumption
 Urbanization and services
 Upgrading of equity (socially conditioned)
OECD Trends





Energy: 36% increase 1973-98; 35% increase
expected by 2020 despite efficiency gains
Transport: 550 million vehicles (75% cars) grow 32%;
40% more miles driven; global air transport triple
Waste: municipal solid waste will grow 42% 19952020; recycling increasing but is not keeping up
Water: household water use stable in 9 countries;
rising in others
Food: more meat, vegetables, fish, processed,
imported and organic food eaten; increase in
packaging, transportation.
Can the World afford both the
American and Chinese Dreams?
 For
a long time the US with only 5% of
worlds population consumed closed to 1/3
of the world’s resources, but…
China’s Economy






3rd largest, highest growth rate 9%
Largest producer of steel, cement, television,
aquaculture
Second largest of electricity and chemical textiles
Largest consumer of fertilizers and second largest
consumer and producer of pesticides
1978-2002 Consumption of meat 4x increase; milk 4x;
eggs 8x (agr. Waste 4x level of industrial)
Cars 1978-2003 2-25 million; highways 90-180,000
Demographics
 1.3
billion people
 Population doubled in fifty years
 Population growth rate dropped from 2-3%
to 0.7%
 Household number grew 3x as fast as
population (house size increasing also)
 1952-2003 Urbanization 12-39%
Per Capita Floor Space in Rural and Urban China
Soon more Highways than US
Converging Patterns of
Energy Dependency
Ahead in Commodities
Ahead in Electronics
Still behind in Major
Purchases
Annual Consumption of Key Resources Per Person
in China and the United States, 2004
Commodity Unit
China
US
Grain
Kilograms
291
935
Meat
Kilograms
48
125
Oil
Barrels
2
25
Coal
613
1925
Steel
Kgs of oil
equivalent
Kilograms
198
353
Paper
Kilograms
27
210
Annual Per Person Consumption in China and the
United States in 2004, with Projections for China to
2031, Compared to Current World Production
Commodity Unit
Grain
Million tons
China
2004
291
US
2004
935
World
2004
2021
China
2031
1352
Meat
Million tons
48
125
239
181
Oil
Millions
Barrels/day
2
25
79
99
Coal
Million tons of
oil equivalent
613
1925
2519
2823
Steel
Million tons
198
353
968
511
Paper
Million tons
27
210
157
303
Global Population and Per Capita Consumption as
Drivers of Global Consumption
What Explains the Constant Rise
in Consumption?
Conventional Economist
 People
have an unlimited capacity to
consume; economy depends on it
 People can rationally choose among
alternative purchases within their income
and will do so
 Increasing propensity to save with
increase in income, but
 Increase in private consumption tracks
increase in GDP (as countries develop)
Social Contingency Theories


Veblens theory of “Conspicuous Consumption”
 People copy the consumption practices of wealthier
members of society
Hirch’s theory of “Positional Goods”


Wachtel’s theory of “loss of community”


When goods become scarce they become more valued and desirable
because they can be used to differentiate people
People consume to compensate for lack of interaction and intimacy in
modern society
Shor’s theory of the “work and spend cycle”

Industrialization hasn’t delivered leisure to people because business
compensates them with money rather than time, money is spent on
consumption, the patterns of which become ingrained
Other Contingencies
 Public
goods are consumed on a different
basis than private goods (shaped by
culture; ability to free ride)
 Culture: norms, expectations, habits
 Technology and infrastructure: much of our
consumption is already predetermined (e.g.
communications, transportation, water,
etc.)
What Explains this Constant Rise in
Consumption?

affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition
of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged
pursuit of more. (de Graaf, 2002)

affluenza, n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that
results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic
of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged
pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to
economic growth. (PBS)

affluenza, n. 2. “…a growing and unhealthy preoccupation with
money and material things. This illness is constantly reinforcing
itself at both the individual and the social levels, constraining us
to derive our identities and sense of place in the world through
our consumption activity.“ (Hamilton and Denniss)
Needs, Opportunity-Ability Model of Consumer
Behavior
Technology
Economy
Demography
Needs
Relations, development, comfort,
pleasure, work, health, privacy,
money, status, safety, nature, control,
leisure-time, justice
Institutions
Opportunity
availability,
information, prices,
shops
Motivation
Culture
Ability
Financial, time,
spatial, cognitive,
physical
Behavioral Control
Intention
Consumer Behavior
Consequences: quality of life, environmental quality
Affluence Summary





High propensity to consume
Consumption is socially contingent to some
degree, more freedom in some choices than
others
No necessity that human desires have to be
satisfied by material goods
Increasing services indicate otherwise
Inability of increasing affluence to change level
of happiness indicates otherwise
Changing Social Trajectories
Economic, Political and Technology Policy
options to change society
 Social Movements
 Ecological footprints
 Media
Community
Changing Trajectories #1
Social Movements
 Informal,
grassroots
 Based on environmental pressures,
education, value changes (livelihood and
post-materialist movements [lifestyle])
 Changes in behavior
…can lead to:
Livelihood and Post-Materialist
Issues
 Livelihood
issues are needs for basic
requirements such as food, shelter, fuel
and employment.
 Post-materialist
issues are changes to
lifestyle because of concern for
biodiversity, natural beauty, impact of
consumption on quality of life etc.
A newspaper vendor said
she felt like "a vacuum
cleaner sucking in dust"
when she worked on high
pollution days in the
smog black spot.
Businesses have renewed appeals for the
government to improve Hong Kong's air
quality, with one multinational firm
downgrading the city to a "hardship posting"
due to the smog.
"I have spent so much money on medical costs
over the past two years, but it's not just the
money. It has also cost me business due to lost
time. Whenever I go to Central, I get sick - I
have respiratory problems," said Mr Chan
Research shows link between dirty air
and visits to the doctor
Professor Wong said the one-year study recorded 51,822 consultations for
new cases of illness in the seven clinics. Of these, 36,112 were respiratory
illnesses, including 31,303 upper respiratory tract infections and 2,094
cases of flu. "All in all, it will add up to a much bigger number, maybe a
million consultations quite easily if we project this to the total number of
GPs practising in Hong Kong," he said.
A statistically significant link was found between an increase in
consultations and a rise in particulate pollution.
"The impact of air pollution on public health extends far
beyond the increase in hospital admissions and mortalities,"
the academics said.
Non-Governmental Organizations
and Political Parties





Formal organizations with committed and paid
participants
Local to global concerns and organization
Different strategies and politics: demonstrations
to collaboration
Impacts on government, business and public
policy and behavior
Environmental NGOs balanced by other NGOs
and business associations
An Awareness Problem:
Disconnection between Consumption and
Environmental Exploitation
 Failure
of negative feedback to change habits
in places of consumption because they are
separated from places of production and its
environmental impact
Ecological Footprint
Analysis
…is an accounting tool that enables us
to estimate the resource consumption
and waste assimilation requirements of
a defined human population or economy
in terms of a corresponding productive
land area.
Changing Trajectories #2
Community Building
Combining strengths of local relations and sense of
belonging with benefits of social freedoms,
transparency, and tolerance.
 Community members work toward common goal,
while taking care and respecting each other.
 Depends on and creates social capital (shared
networks, values, trust)

Sustainable Communities
 Local Agenda
21: thousands of villages,
towns, cities and regions implementing
sustainability programs
 Activities include: recycling programs,
buildings, energy, habitat restoration,
product design, water quality, etc.
 Indicators for feedback on progress
 Global community needed
Society: Key Points
 Why
society is at core of susdev and
business adaptation
 Similarities and differences between
society and community
 Social trajectories and feedbacks;
examples
Society: Key Points
IPAT equation (further examples of
trajectories)
 Population: understanding trends;
demographic transition
 Affluence: components; upgrading of
equity; China’s trajectory and implications;
social contingencies (examples;
implications)
 Technology: Techno-economic paradigm;
difficulty of technological transformation
Society: Key Points
Changing Social Trajectories #1
 Types of social movements: 1) informal
and formal; 2) livelihood and postmaterialist (lifestyle)
 Awareness problems 1) disconnection
between consumption and environmental
exploitation (ecofootprint)
Changing Social Trajectories #2
 Community building
 Sustainable communities