Why incumbents fail - and what that means for sustainability

The core assumption and focus of people who work to drive sustainability through markets – as corporate leaders, investors, NGOs or thought leaders – is that we need to convince existing companies and their shareholders that sustainability is first good for their business, and secondly, they can successfully transition to a sustainable business model.

But what if both of these are wrong? As someone who has spent over 25 years in that world, I’m starting to think they both might be. If so, it calls into question the very basis of the work literally millions of us are engaged in. So, it is at least worth a discussion!

The first point is the foundational question – that sustainability is broadly good for business. Not business as a concept, but business as specific institution.

Read the full article by Paul Gilding - “Why incumbents fail - and what that means for sustainability.”

Costa Rica Becomes the First Nation to Ban Fossil Fuels

Sustainability has become the focus of the world over the last decade, and many countries have made great strides in their efforts to combat climate change. Japan has achieved nearly zero waste in select towns, and over 40% of Denmark’s citizens commute by bicycle to work.

Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado has announced
 his country would be banning fossil based fuels altogether.

Today, Costa Rica took steps to eclipsing even these amazing countries in terms of sustainability. President Carlos Alvarado announced they would be banning fossil based fuels altogether. This makes Costa Rica the first country in the world to completely decarbonize.

“Getting rid of fossil fuels is a big idea coming from a small country. This is an idea that’s starting to gain international support with the rise of new technologies,” Costa Rican economist Monica Araya said.

Read the story from Medium - “Costa Rica Becomes the First Nation to Ban Fossil Fuels.”

What would happen if the world suddenly went vegetarian?

People become vegetarians for a variety of reasons. Some do it to alleviate animal suffering, others because they want to pursue a healthier lifestyle. Still others are fans of sustainability or wish to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Eliminating meat from our diets would bring a bounty
 of benefits to both our own health and the planet’s
 – but it could also harm millions of people.

No matter how much their carnivorous friends might deny it, vegetarians have a point: cutting out meat delivers multiple benefits. And the more who make the switch, the more those perks would manifest on a global scale.

But if everyone became a committed vegetarian, there would be serious drawbacks for millions, if not billions, of people.

“It’s a tale of two worlds, really,” says Andrew Jarvis of Colombia’s International Centre for Tropical Agriculture. “In developed countries, vegetarianism would bring all sorts of environmental and health benefits. But in developing countries there would be negative effects in terms of poverty.”

Read Rachel Nuwer’s BBC story - “What would happen if the world suddenly went vegetarian?”

Surfing event in Hawaii accomplishes zero carbon emissions

During the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, event organisers celebrated sustainability by managing to deliver a zero carbon emissions event while raising awareness about oceans protection among surfers and visitors.

The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing in Hawaii was a zero carbon emissions event.

The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing is a three-event series taking place at Haleiwa, Sunset, and the Banzai Pipeline beaches in Hawaii, attracting an average of 25,000 visitors on competition days putting significant environmental stress on the beaches.

Against this challenge, Vans partnered with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, an environmental organisation dedicated to improving consumer behaviour to tackle ocean pollution. They launched a comprehensive sustainability initiative to alleviate the carbon footprint of the event and made sure that visitors do not leave a negative environmental impact in the area.

Read the Climate Action story - “Surfing event in Hawaii accomplishes zero carbon emissions.”

Healthcare Institutions across U.S. Treating Climate Change as a Top Priority

The Cleveland Clinic started thinking “green” more than a decade ago, as sustainability and energy efficiency were just starting to gain traction in serious conversations about climate change. Since then, the Ohio medical center’s environmentally conscious practices have become part of its culture, with everyone getting involved.

They are recycling, turning off lights and computers, planting trees in the community, and buying Energy Star-certified equipment, from MRI and ultrasound machines to kitchen appliances. They are reducing water usage through low-flow fixtures, cutting waste, and controlling operating room air to ensure it’s clean and fresh during surgery, but not squandered when the OR is empty.

Equally impressive: the facility aims to become carbon neutral within the next ten years. They hope to accomplish this by increasing their renewable energy sources, and expanding all of their existing efficiency and emission-reducing programs.

Read the Nexus Media story by Marlene Cimons - “Healthcare Institutions across U.S. Treating Climate Change as a Top Priority.”

Business sustainability and climate change discussion for Shepparton

A woman with an acute understanding of business sustainability and climate change will speak in Shepparton later this month.

Dr Sarah Birrell Ivory.

Dr Sarah Birrell Ivory will be a guest at a lunch on Wednesday, December 20, hosted jointly by the Committee for Greater Shepparton and La Trobe University.

Dr Ivory is an Early Career Fellow in Climate Change and Business Strategy at the University of Edinburgh where she recently established the Global Challenge for Business compulsory first-year course for all undergraduate students.

She is a member of the Centre for Business and Climate Change which develops dedicated educational and research material relating to aspects of business and management that impact, or are impacted by, climate change issues.

She is also a member of the Sustainable Business Institute which advises and engages with the business and wider community on sustainability issues.

Dr Ivory also teaches Climate Change and Environmental Policy in the Master of Science Carbon Finance as a part of a team delivering the strategic leadership module in the flagship MBA program at the Edinburgh University. 

She worked in Singapore and Australia before moving into academia and attended St Brendan’s Primary School in Shepparton and then the Shepparton High School before moving to the Presbyterian Ladies College in Melbourne.

The hour-long lecture at the Shepparton campus of La Trobe University starts 12:15 pm following a light lunch at 11:45n am.

More information from Rebecca White at the Committee for Greater Shepparton, phone 5821 9177.

Lead Acid Batteries to Store Energy in S&T’s Ecovillage

By Halloween, Missouri University of Science and Technology’s new EcoVillage microgrid will be up and running on solar panels and storing excess energy with lead acid batteries.

The houses in Missouri S&T’s EcoVillage will use
lead acid batteries to store and distribute
energy starting in fall 2017. 

In conjunction with the Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC), Missouri S&T’s Microgrid Industrial Consortium partners Doe Run, Ameren and Azimuth Energy are designing the EcoVillage microgrid. Missouri S&T researchers Dr. Mehdi Ferdowsi, professor of electrical and computer engineering; Dr. Pourya Shamsi, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Dr. Fatih Dogan, professor of materials science and engineering, also are working on the design.

“Despite competition from newer energy storage chemistries, such as the lithium ion batteries in our first microgrid, lead acid batteries still retain a large share of the high-power battery market,” says Angie Rolufs, director of the Center for Sustainability at Missouri S&T and leader of the consortium. “This alone is a good reason for us to include them as an energy storage option in our next microgrid. This new microgrid will provide a new ‘living lab’ from which S&T researchers can collect data and conduct research in a variety of areas, including S&T’s Smart Living signature research area.”

Read the Science and Technology Research News story - “Lead Acid Batteries to Store Energy in S&T’s Ecovillage.”

Thinking about a sustainable retrofit? Here are three things to consider

Choosing the appliance is the
easy part of retrofitting.

Sitting at home in the summer heat, your mind may start to wander to that fancy new air conditioner.

But when it comes to making your house comfortable and sustainable, prevention is better than cure. By prevention we mean simple retrofits that will set you on the path to comfort and sustainability.

As we spend more than ever on maintaining and improving our homes, we’re also becoming more aware of how their design and use impact on our health and society. Add to this climate change and rising energy costs.

There are many ways to reduce energy and stay comfortable (for instance here and here). Numerous reports suggest it should be possible to reduce your energy use by 50-80% using existing and available materials and appliances.

Appliances are the easy bit, and you can find the most efficient appliances using energy star ratings. But before you go out and buy that air conditioner, consider the following principles that can help you decide what you need to create a comfortable home.

Read the piece on The Conversation - “Thinking about a sustainable retrofit? Here are three things to consider.”

Large Corporations Are Driving America’s Renewable Energy Boom. And They’re Just Getting Started

Large corporations aren’t typically thought of as environmental champions. But these companies now stand to be one of the most powerful advocates for clean energy in the U.S. -- both in Washington, D.C. and in states across the country.

A December report by Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) found that 71 of the Fortune 100 companies currently have renewable energy or sustainability targets, up from 60 companies just two years ago. Commitments among Fortune 500 companies have held steady over the past two years at 43 percent, or 215 firms.

Of the Fortune 500 companies, AEE reports that 22 have committed to powering all of their operations with renewable energy, including Wal-Mart and General Motors -- the CEOs of which have been selected to join President-elect Donald Trump’s business advisory council. A total of 83 companies from around the world have now committed to going 100 percent renewable through the RE100 initiative. Google announced in December that it will meet its renewable energy target in 2017.

Read the GTM: story - “Large Corporations Are Driving America’s Renewable Energy Boom. And They’re Just Getting Started.”

People who don't have children benefit our environment more than any campaign – it's time to celebrate them

Kim Cattrall famously said
that she didn't want to
be referred to as "childless"
 as she found the term offensive. 

The global population is growing rapidly, while the resources we depend on to live are dwindling. If you consider the footprint each person makes on the world – in terms of food and water consumed, electricity and gas used, and waste produced – the challenge of improving living standards while protecting natural resources and the environment is striking. The question of human population size is fundamentally one of sustainability, and in that so is the choice to have children.

Rather than being taboo, being childfree is something that should be celebrated and valued. The childfree do more for our environment than any campaign. In the UK our electricity use per capita is 5,407 kWh – it’s nigh on impossible to make up for the environmental footprint of having a child by remembering to switch off the lights. Finite resources mean we must consider our consumption now, what living standards are acceptable, and how to maintain the ecosystems on which we depend and how many of us there are.

Read the story on the Independent by Simon Ross - “People who don't have children benefit our environment more than any campaign – it's time to celebrate them.”

Kate Auty discusses the threats and risks of climate change with Anne Telford

Kate Auty played a key role in the first climate change conference to be staged in Shepparton.

Professor Auty was the master of ceremonies at the Slap Tomorrow forum, “Climate change: a wake-up call” in 2013 that attracted more than 600 people.

She has never relented in her attempts to alert people to the risks and threats of climate change, from working with Strathbogie Voices in her home town of Euroa to spread the message to willingly speaking at a host of events throughout Victoria and the rest of Australia.

Professor Auty was recently reappointed as Commissioner for Sustainability and Environment with the Australian Capital Territory.

Professor Auty is also the 2014 Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Melbourne, and the Chair of the Advisory Board for the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute.  Prior to this, she was the Victorian Government Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability.

Here she talks with Anne Telford at a North East Water community conference earlier this month. Watch the interview.

Using circular economies to fight food waste

Bernadette McCabe - she wants us to recover
and do something useful with food waste.

Around 4 million tonnes of food reaches landfill in Australia each year. This forms part of Australia’s organic waste, the country’s largest unrecovered stream of waste that goes into landfill.

There’s a missed opportunity here to recover this waste and do something useful with it. In particular, we can use it for energy such as biofuel. This forms part of a broader concept known as the “circular economy”.

In the absence of federal initiatives, state and local governments and communities are developing projects to foster a circular economy that can absorb this and other waste. This would then provide usable products to assist businesses and households and improve sustainability.

Read the piece on The Conversation by the Associate Professor and Principal Scientist at the University of Southern Queensland, Bernadette McCabe - “Australian communities are fighting food waste with circular economies.”

Creating the 'Tesla of eco-villages' near Amsterdam

RegenVillages aims to create the "Tesla of
eco-villages," and its first
development is underway outside Amsterdam

Imagine a neighborhood that can grow its own food, produce its own energy, and turn its waste system into a closed-loop regenerative system. Now imagine a network of such villages all over the world. Pretty far-fetched, eh? Maybe, but that's what people thought just a few decades ago, when the first modern hybrids were being brought to market, and the idea of affordable and practical electric cars was starting to be pursued commercially.

But today, even just a quick look at the alternative transportation market, which includes everything from e-bikes to electric airplanes, reveals a quite different view, and while there are a number of kinks to work out (cutting costs, adding infrastructure), it's starting to look a lot less like science fiction and a lot more like we're living in the future right now. And although electric vehicles might seem a lot sexier to talk about than housing developments, addressing the sustainability of our living quarters, and the neighborhoods and communities that surround them, is something at least as eco-worthy as the latest electric mobility innovations.

Read the Treehugger story - “This eco-village is designed to be fully self-sufficient, from energy to food to waste.”

Engagement is the key to people understanding, embracing sustainability

Engagement is the key to having people understand and embrace a sustainability plan.

MLA Ellen Sandell.

A forum on Thursday in the Lowe Theatre at the University of Melbourne’s Redmond Barry Building was set up with just that aim.

The forum, “What is the plan” had the aim of explaining what was happening at the university with regard to sustainability and within that hoped to engage and wide range of people.

The Lowe Theatre had a seating capacity of 172 (it was noted on the door) and before the event the university’s Sustainability Manager, Danielle Rostan-Herbert, said some 200 people had intended to attend, but about 20 seats were empty.

The challenge of engaging such a broad range of people over the many campuses that make up the university was acknowledged as was the task of explaining the role and need of sustainability within the university.

Many aspects of what is intended by the plan were explained from the mechanics and role of the process by the vice-principal of administration and finance at the university, Mr Allan Tait, through to what it means for students from Student Union Environment Representative, Ms Anisa Rogers.

Master of ceremonies for the forum, Greens MLA for Melbourne and former University of Melbourne student, Ellen Sandell, introduced the other speakers, Postgraduate Environment Network president, Ms Michelle Wilson; Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute representative and atmospheric scientist, Professor David Karoly; senior lecturer in business ethics, Dr Ben Neville; and representing the Fair Food Challenge, Ms Sophie Lamond.



Anisa Rogers - she talked
students and sustainability.

Introducing the speakers, Ms Sandell reminisced about her time at university and when she was the student union environment officer back in 2007 when, in her words, “Was quite involved back then in pushing the university to be better on issues like sustainability.”

She said she was thinking about what has changed and what has stayed the same over the 10 years since then.

“A lot has changed, but I’m sure many of you would share my despair at how much has actually stayed the same,” she said.



Ms Sandell talked about how much momentum there was about climate change at the time as when she was the student union environment officer, Al Gore had just released his famous movie, “Inconvenient Truth” and climate change had come to global prominence and Kevin Rudd had said he would sign the Koyoto Protocol and the 2007 election was fought largely on climate change.



Vice-principal of administration
and finance, Allan Tait.
 

She said there was a lot of momentum, but it seemed that ten years later “we have indeed gone backwards.”

“We have no real climate change plan at a federal level, emissions are rising year on year and we seem to break global temperature records year on year as well and so a lot of us might be feeling a little despondent and I can fully understand that as I’m one of them.

“When you have an absence of national leadership it is incumbent on other institutions, Local Government, universities, State Governments to rise up to the challenge and say if our Federal Government won’t take action, we will, let’s start and take action at a local level and show the leadership that is so sorely needed,” she said.



Atmospheric scientist, Prof
 David Karoly, speaks at the
University of Melbourne
 sustainability event.

Mr Tait explained the history and purposes of the university’s sustainability plan to see it recognized as a leader and an institution that has embedded sustainability in all its operations, teaching, learning, research and engagement.

“We really need your input” he told those are the forum.

He said the consultation period will run through to June and people can contribute their thoughts and opinions online at the Sustainability website.

University anthropologist, Han Baer, used question time to first point that flying was among the fastest growing contributor to carbon emission and second, that many academics he knew flew regularly and so was eager to know who that would be dealt with under the sustainability plan.

Mr Tait said it was obviously an important issue in reducing not only the university’s carbon footprint, but in cutting generally the world’s carbon emissions.

He said he did not have a specific answer, but knew it would arise during discussions about the university’s general operations. “It’s part of the process, it’s part of the puzzle,” he said.

David Karoly said it was a “very, very important question” and it is something the university had tried the think about, but it was in fact excluded, academic travel in the target that the university set in reducing emissions by 50 percent by 2010, it decided not to include academic travel as it was too hard.

“But it isn’t too hard, it can be and there are a range of processes including the facilitating video conferencing and telephone conferencing and requiring certifiable and reliable carbon offsets for every carbon mile that’s travelled and charge that activity to the staff member that travels,” he said.



However, Prof Karoly pointed out that there is another faster growing source of emissions than flying and that was IT technologies and the “cloud”.

He said the explosion the IT and its demand on electricity for charging your phone, cloud computing and “things like that” are an even fast growth globally than air travel and yet we all want to have as much use of cloud computing as possible.



Representing the Fair
 Food Challenge
 was Sophie Lamond.

A question about how students would be engaged brought an answer from Mr Tait about how that would be approached from an official point of view and Ms Wilson, who said she had only found about sustainability charter in passing conversation and it had been “quite hard” to find much detail.

Prof Karol outlined what has been happening at the university in recent years pointing out that in 2007 the University Council agreed on major sustainability initiatives reducing the carbon footprint across all university activities, including in principle, academic travel, but that got excluded for some reason, the whole carbon footprint had to be reduced by 50 per cent by 2010.

And, he explained, the council agreed to a carbon neutral university by 2030, but, as he pointed out by suggesting people run a straight line, “we should now be at least 60 per cent below 2006”.

One questioner suggested there was more to sustainability than carbon dioxide emissions and asked about whether or not various service providers to the university were being encouraged to reduce their use of plastics, noting that there will soon be more plastic in our oceans than fish.

Mr Tait acknowledged the questioner’s concerns, but pointed out that various laws prohibited the university from directing what those firms who hire various spaces on different campuses can and can’t sell.

People keen to know more about the process can find addition information at the university’s websites that discuss sustainability, the charter and consultation.

Westpac responds to call for climate change action

S

ome months ago I wrote to Westpac (I bank with the company) congratulating it for acknowledging the urgency of limiting global warming to less than 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures.

The thoughts I sent to the bank are published below.

Today, I received a reply from the bank’s Group Head of Sustainability, Siobhan Toohill, who produced a rather long reply, published here:

Dear Robert,

Thank-you for taking the time to write to us regarding Westpac’s approach to climate change.  We value your feedback and would like to assure you we consider the views of all our stakeholders on an ongoing basis as we continue to refine our approach to these important issues.

Like you, Westpac recognises that climate change is affecting the communities in which we operate and will have significant physical implications for our customers and the community.  As a major financial institution we have an important role to play in supporting the transition to a sustainable economic model, which is less carbon intensive, and to help customers to adapt and become resilient to the range of possible future climate outcomes.

Indeed, we were the first Australian bank to publicly commit to prepare for an economy which limits global warming to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

In line with this commitment, we have taken action on a number of fronts – through our lending and investments, in our operations and through engagement with our stakeholders.

•        Since 2011, we have increased the proportion of renewable energy financing from 45% to 61% in our total electricity generation portfolio. This includes an increase of more than 12 percentage points in funding provided to new clean energy technologies such as wind and solar, with the remainder lent to the hydro sector.

•        Since we began tracking the carbon emissions attributed to our Australian electricity generation finance portfolio in 2013, the emissions intensity of Westpac’s portfolio has consistently been well below the emissions intensity of the National Electricity Market benchmark.

•        We have analysed the carbon intensity of 42 investment options across our retail and corporate superannuation products which we disclosed for the first time in 2015 (page 53 of our 2015 Sustainability Performance Report). 

 •       In 2015 BT Financial Group (BTFG) publically released a Responsible Investment Position Statement, setting out our approach to the consideration of ESG issues, including climate change, across all of our investment-related portfolios.

•        As at 30 September 2015, we had lent or invested more than $6.1 billion to the CleanTech and environmental services sector.  This is ahead of our target to make $6 billion available by 2017.

•        Actions to continue to reduce our direct environmental footprint saw us achieve all of our direct environmental targets in 2015, and our operations remain carbon neutral. 

•        We have expanded the information published in our Sustainability Performance Report to provide stakeholders greater insights into our performance.  This included Group-wide lending profile to mining to supplement the Australia and New Zealand exposures disclosed last year.

•        In 2015, we highlighted our support for Australia’s bipartisan commitment to limit global warming to less than two degrees by signing the Business Coalition Statement on Climate Change. This is in addition to a number of pledges and initiatives that Westpac Group has endorsed, demonstrating our support for the implementation of an international climate agreement. You can read more about our commitments on our website.

Our approach to managing sustainability risks, including climate change risks, is guided by our Sustainability Risk Management Framework.  For all our lending activities, this is supported by our internal Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Credit Risk Policy and our divisional credit manuals which guide the incorporation of ESG risks into our decision making process. If we are not comfortable with the risk profile of a transaction, including environmental risks, we will not proceed.

In 2008, we were the first Australian bank to publish a position statement on climate change, which has guided our approach to this issue in areas such as managing risk, supporting our customers, and engaging with our people. Last year we refreshed our Climate Change and Environmental Position Statement and 2017 Action Plan, which sets out our approach in more detail.

We will continue to focus on developing practical economic solutions to environmental challenges, building upon our core skills and expertise in lending, investment and risk management and we expect to drive long-term shareholder value through our response. 

I hope this provides you with additional perspective on our views and approach.  Please do contact me again if you have any further questions or concerns.

Yours sincerely,

Siobhan Toohill

My submission to the bank:

I’m pleased to see that finally, all of Australia’s major banks have acknowledged the urgent need to limit global warming to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels. This is a great step forward, but if the public is to believe your words they must be matched with action.

The imperative to act is undeniable, and all signs indicate that global political action on climate change will increase rapidly over the next few years to reach the 2°C goal. But political leaders can’t do it alone. We need businesses, and the banking sector in particular, to do all they can to facilitate the necessary shift to a zero emissions economy.

It’s widely known that emissions from burning fossil fuels are the leading driver of global warming. As one of Australia’s biggest lenders to fossil fuels since 2008, your current business model is completely out of step with efforts to ensure a safe climate future. You need to now align your business model with your commitment to the two degree global warming limit. Starting now.

The latest research into the carbon budget tells us that, in order to have a 75% chance of not exceeding the 2° limit, around three quarters of global fossil fuel reserves must stay underground. In particular, 88% of global coal reserves are un-burnable and therefore un-minable.

So a commitment to help limit warming carries an inherent promise not to facilitate any further the expansion of the fossil fuel industry in Australia or overseas. You are also committing to a rapid reduction in your exposure to coal, oil and gas and a commensurate increase in support for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

I want to see you move from supporting action to limit global warming to less than 2°C to actually taking steps to get us there. Go beyond words, and start taking action.

The world is moving fast on the issues of climate change and clean energy – will you end up on the right side of history?

Endless economic growth and sustainability not compatible

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an Australians be sustainable and enjoy endless economic growth? It’s not likely.

Professor Mark
Diesendorf.

In a recent article on The Conversation, Steve Hatfield-Dodds argued that sustainability was possible in Australia without sacrificing economic growth.

He also argued the necessary policy changes would not require fundamental changes to Australians' values. This research was based on a detailed paper in Nature and modelling undertaken for CSIRO’s recent National Outlook Report.

Contrary to this pro-growth outlook, I will argue that sustainability would be almost impossible to achieve in practice without ending growth in population and consumption per person.

Read the thoughts of Associate Professor Mark Diesendorf, of the University of New South Wales, published on The Conversation - “We can achieve sustainability – but not without limiting growth.”

Prof Diesendorf is known to some in the Goulburn Valley as he spoke at a Slap Tomorrow energy forum in Mooroopna last year.

Boring old farmhouse holds secrets we could all learn from

S

hould more people have chosen to lived like this then the world would not be facing it present difficulties – resource depletion and a seriously disrupted climate.

On the outside this house is straight from the 18^th Century, on the inside it is stuck in the 1940s with no acknowledgement of modernity.

Is it worse? From a modern convenience point of view it most certainly is, but from a modern sustainability viewpoint, no.

Read the story about this “boring old farmhouse” on Little Things.com - “It Looks Like A Boring Old Farmhouse — But Inside, It’s Stuck InThe 1940s!”

Many misuse and abuse 'sustainability' and 'sustainable'

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any take advantage of society’s broad misunderstanding of what sustainability and sustainable really mean.

Frequently companies, and many individuals, exercise these terms to claim that what it is they are doing, or the various ideologies they adhere to play no part in damaging the atmosphere and neither risking or depleting our resources.

Equally frequently, those claims are both distorted and deceptive and in fact do both, that is damage the atmosphere and further erode our finite resources.

Circular Ecology says: “The definition of sustainability is not nearly as simple as it might seem, likewise with the definition of sustainable development. This is best illustrated by the fact that there are over 200 different definitions to what is sustainable development.”

It explains the terms in it story - “Sustainability and sustainable development - What is sustainability and what is sustainabledevelopment?”

The 'great work of reparing the earth' - Haydn Washington

H

aydn Washington talks of the “great work of repairing the earth” on today’s Ockham’s Razor program on Radio National.

Author and environmental scientist, Washington aims to demystify sustainability, so that everybody can understand what the issues are. Washington just published a book, “Demystifying Sustainability.” and asks what does sustainability mean?

The program - “Demystifying sustainability” – helps the lay person understand what the issues are and why they need to act, quickly.

Ted Trainer talks about living a simpler life

D

r Ted Trainer talks about why he aims to live more simply.

The Conjoint Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, has long written about sustainability and justice issues for many years and here he puts “The Case for Simplicity”.

Putting the case for simplicity in living he says, “I think there are two main lines of argument:

The first is that global sustainability and justice cannot be achieved unless we live much more simply than the average person does in rich countries today.

The second reason is that living simply enables a richer personal life.