Munier Introduction to Sustainability

Road to a Better Future
2005
ISBN: 978-1-4020-3558-6
Verlag: Springer Netherlands
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 444 Seiten

This book develops a supporting structure for sustainable development, following a natural set of steps to reach an established goal. It provides the tools to navigate this 'Road' 'to a Better Future' by explaining concepts, giving ideas, proposing methods, and suggesting actions. To illustrate the utilization of techniques there are many examples, applied to a variety of activities, and to wrap up concepts, the last chapter is dedicated to the analysis of a community in search of a sustainable environment. A thematic index has been designed to help a person quickly find information on relevant topics.

Zielgruppe

Graduate students, stakeholders, decision-makers, politicians Environmental Management, Monitoring/Environmental Analysis/Environmental Ecotoxicology, Waste Water Technology, Water Pollution Control, Water Management, Aquatic Pollution

Autoren/Hrsg.

Munier, Nolberto

Fachgebiete

• Technische Wissenschaften Umwelttechnik | Umwelttechnologie Wasserversorgung, Wasseraufbereitung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Entwicklungspolitik, Nord-Süd Beziehungen
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Wasserversorgung
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Internationale Wirtschaft Entwicklungsökonomie & Emerging Markets
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Umweltmanagement, Umweltökonomie
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Umweltüberwachung, Umweltanalytik, Umweltinformatik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;TABLE OF CONTENTS;5
2;ACKNOWLEDGMENTS;11
3;CHAPTER 1 - BASIC INFORMATION ON SUSTAINABLE ISSUES;12
3.1;1.1 The purpose of this book;12
3.2;1.2 Defining sustainability;21
3.3;1.3 Weak and strong sustainability;26
3.4;1.4 Sustainable development vs. economic growth;27
3.5;1.5 People’s participation;32
3.6;1.6 The ecological footprint;35
3.7;1.7 The ecological rucksack;39
3.8;1.8 Emergy accounting;41
3.9;1.9 Resilience ( social, economical, and political);43
3.10;1.10 Environmental resilience;44
3.11;1.11 Externalities;45
3.12;1.12 Capital;46
3.13;1.13 Local Agenda;47
3.14;1.14 The Bellagio principles;48
4;CHAPTER 2 – THE CULTURE OF WASTE;54
4.1;2.1 Introduction;54
4.2;2.2 First part: Current generation and treatment of waste;54
4.3;2.3 Hazardous waste;70
4.4;2.4 Recycling;71
4.5;2.5 Incinerators;71
4.6;2.6 Second part: Decreasing waste generation;75
4.7;2.7 Nature’s closed waste cycle;75
4.8;2.8 Society’s open path for wastes;76
4.9;2.9 Ecosystem metabolism and metabolism in society;79
4.10;2.10 Why is waste produced?;79
4.11;2.11 What can be done to correct this situation?;83
4.12;2.12 Conservation of resources;84
4.13;2.13 Actions to reduce consumption;101
4.14;2.14 Working together;105
5;CHAPTER 3 – SUSTAINABILITY IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT;116
5.1;3.1 Sustainability at the individual level;116
5.2;3.2 Sustainability in the household;117
5.3;3.3 Urban transportation;124
5.4;3.4 Upgrading slums in cities;128
5.5;3.5 Environmental sustainability;131
5.6;3.6 Team efforts toward sustainable environment;139
5.7;3.7 Sustainability in public administration and in urban life;139
5.8;3.8 Sustainability in public health;142
5.9;3.9 Sustainability in education;143
5.10;3.10 Sustainability in commerce;145
5.11;3.11 Reducing energy consumption;148
6;CHAPTER 4 - INDUSTRIAL APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY;160
6.1;4.1 Sustainability in industry;160
6.2;4.2 Sustainability in transportation;198
6.3;4.3 Sustainability in agriculture;211
6.4;4.4 Forestry sustainability;213
6.5;4.5 Sustainability in the construction industry;214
7;CHAPTER 5 - ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY;230
7.1;5.1 Introduction;230
7.2;5.2 Brief technical information on energy conversion equipment;234
7.3;5.3 Non-conventional sources for energy generation;244
8;CHAPTER 6 –MEASURING SUSTAINABILITY;276
8.1;6.1 Types of indicators;276
8.2;6.2 Approach for choosing indicators;278
8.3;6.3 Sustainable vs. common indicators;279
8.4;6.4 Indicator uses;280
8.5;6.5 Indicator linkages;285
8.6;6.6 Integration of sustainable indicators;286
8.7;6.7 Weight of indicators;287
8.8;6.8 The choice of indicators;288
8.9;6.9 Multipliers;292
8.10;6.10 Framework for indicators;295
8.11;6.11 Thresholds;297
8.12;6.12 Carrying capacity;298
8.13;6.13 Selection of a set of final indicators;304
8.14;6.14 Monitoring progress;305
8.15;6.15 Indicators for the city;306
9;CHAPTER 7 – SUSTAINABLE IMPACT ASSESSMENT ( SuIA);326
9.1;7.1 Urban and regional sustainability;326
9.2;7.2 Agreeing on the goal;331
9.3;7.3 Understanding the problem;333
9.4;7.4 Resources inventory Factors to consider;334
9.5;7.6 People’s opinion;337
9.6;7.7 Criteria and indicators to gauge projects;339
9.7;7.8 Application example: A community looks for a sustainable energy option;342
10;CHAPTER 8: CASE EXAMPLE - A COMMUNITY IN SEARCH OF ITS FUTURE;370
10.1;8.1 Background information for a process;370
10.2;8.2 Introduction to the sustainable initiative for a community;374
10.3;8.3 The process;377
10.4;8.4 Impacts created by tourism;391
10.5;8.5 How to measure impacts;396
10.6;8.6 Conclusions from studies;398
11;APPENDIX;405
11.1;A.1 The Zeleny method for determining weights;406
11.2;A.2 Determination of Return on Investment and Net Present Value;410
11.3;A.3 A guide to strategic planning;413
11.4;A.4 Visualizing progress towards sustainability goals;417
11.5;A.5 Life Cycle Assessment (LCA);421
11.6;A.6 Regression analysis for weights determination;426
11.7;A.7 Discharges and their effect on the environment;432
12;GLOSSARY;438
13;BIBLIOGRAPHY;446
14;INDEX;450

Leseproben

CHAPTER 2 – THE CULTURE OF WASTE (p. 43)

2.1 Introduction

Sustainability relates with Economics, Society, and Environment. However, one common fact that links them all is the generation of waste. This chapter is divided into two: The first part analyses the current generation of waste as well as its treatment. The second intends to establish policies for the future treatment of waste or, better yet, for ceasing the generation of waste. This first part begins by raising some capital questions:

What is waste?
Which are the components of waste?
Where is waste generated? and
How is waste treated?

The second part will deal with:

Why is waste produced? and
What is society doing to correct this problem?

2.2 First part: Current generation and treatment of waste

2.2.1 What is waste?
The dictionary defines ‘waste’ as something useless, unwanted, or defective and the word ‘by-product’ as something produced in an industrial or biological process in addition to the principal product. From the point of view of sustainability, the word ‘waste’ does not have that meaning as, though it may be unwanted, it is not something useless and is certainly not defective.

Even if in a manufacturing process a product or part of it does not conform to the manufacturer’s quality specs, it does not thereby become waste, but is, rather scrap material that is usually brought back to its original state and then processed again.

The Indigo Development Corporation (see Internet References at the end of this chapter) has a good definition of waste: they call waste a ‘dissipative use of natural resources’, as indeed it is, because if released into the air, soil or water there will actually be an unrecoverable dissipation of a natural resource.

Therefore, it is believed that the kind of ‘waste’ referred to here could be better called a by-product, and, as a consequence, having some economic value. The logging industry provides a very good example: A tree is sawed and transported to a sawmill, where it is de-barked the bark being the first by-product, which used then in the sawmill as fuel for a boiler or for producing ethanol (section 5.3.4.2).

The de-barked timber is then sawed into raw wood products, such as saw logs, veneer, building materials, pulpwood, etc., all of which could as easily be regarded as the main product. In the process sawdust is generated, which is another by-product normally utilized to produce particleboards, and also as biomass (section 5.3.4).

The branches of trees, cut into small pieces, are also used as mulch in gardens to retain humidity around plants. Raw wood products have many different uses, such as for boards and structural units in house construction, doors, windows, cabinets, furniture, etc. At the end of their life, these products are considered waste, and this is wrong since many beams, floors, windows can be reused for the same purpose, or taken advantage of the beauty of their grain to make useful and beautiful things.

Über Autor(innen)

Nolberto Munier, Ottawa, ON, Canada