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Sustainability: The Concept

Florida Energy Extension Service and Gary Cook

Sustainability encompasses the concept of living within the means of resources available. For the last several decades, dwellers of Planet Earth, particularly those in the industrialized nations, have been living beyond the means of resources available. If continued upon this course, Earth's supply of fossil fuels and other resources will be depleted within the next century. In addition, Earth's environment will be ravaged to such an extent that it will be unhealthy, if not unfit, for humans. The United States and other industrialized nations, particularly Japan, Sweden and Canada, have taken significant steps toward recognizing environmental concerns. However, all the clean air and water acts, reducing the chlorofluorocarbons and other environmental controls will be meaningless unless the world's population controls its appetite for fossil fuel energy. A more energy efficient world will go a long way toward achieving sustainability. Many 17th and 18th century European communities were built for sustainability. Within a 10-minute walking radius, most villagers could address their needs for shopping, health care, recreation and food. Security was often provided by a wall around the entire village. Agricultural products were grown adjacent to and with convenient access to the village. But the automobile, powered by cheap fuel, changed this structure. 

Lifestyle and Sustainability

Most Americans have developed a lifestyle that is dependent on the use of equipment and machinery. Most American families have not one car, but two; and have refrigerators, microwave ovens, water heaters, air conditioning systems, televisions and many other appliances that support their lifestyle. The concept of sustainability does not mean we have to camp out or live uncomfortably. Through proper city and community design we can vastly reduce our use of natural resources and fossil fuels. In many ways we have become a commuting society, often traveling 10 to 40 miles to our work site and then home again. This in itself creates a tremendous dependence on gasoline, vast highway systems which impact on the environment and polluting exhaust.

A Sustainable World Begins at Home

Societies can start out making individual homes more sustainable, followed by their communities, cities, regions, states, nation and finally the world. How can we make our homes more sustainable? First, design houses to be more energy and environmentally efficient. Use recycled building materials in construction, use passive solar energy in orientation and design, use recycled paper in the form of cellulose insulation for improving the thermal envelope and use passive heating and cooling systems where possible. The passive systems should be supplemented by high efficiency air conditioning, heating and water heating systems. Employ the three R's wherever possible-recycling, reusing and reducing our consumption of consumable and even major products. With few natural resources, the highly industrialized and populous island nation of Japan tends toward sustainability by developing an economy that makes efficient use of resources. For example, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, Japan uses 7.5 million BTUs/household-degree day-year compared to the U.S. which uses 30.0 million BTUs/household-degree day-year. As the fourth most populous state, Florida ranks 11th (624.3 trillion BTUS) in use of coal, 13th in natural gas (341.9 trillion BTUS), 4th in petroleum (1,573.2 trillion BTUS) and 3rd in the end use of electricity (489.7 trillion BTUS). The good news is Floridians rank 45th per capita (236.4 million BTUS) in the use of energy compared to the national average of 326.2 million BTUS. We must be doing something right. (Source: EIA, State Energy Data System, 1990)

A Sustainable View is Broad

In order to be sustainable, one needs to look at subsistence with a holistic view - a whole world perspective, both past and present. Value engineering concepts need be employed to allow us to realistically establish the cost of a product in terms of environmental and pollution impact in addition to labor, transportation and natural resources costs. Citizens of the United States pay less per gallon of gasoline than citizens of any other industrialized nation. In Canada the cost is in excess of $3.00 per gallon, in Europe it is up to $5.00 per gallon. According to many environmentalists, the real cost of gasoline should be around $4.60 a gallon to account for increased health risks due to pollution clean-up, for tax incentive subsidies and for military involvement in the Middle East. Janet S. Wagner, in an article appearing in the summer 1993 issue of Nucleus magazine, writes that some energy costs are not included in consumers' utility or gas bills nor are they paid for by the companies that produce or sell energy. These "hidden" costs to fossil fuels include human health problems caused by air pollution from burning coal and oil; damage to land from coal mining and to miners from black lung disease; environmental degradation caused by global warming, acid rain and water pollution; and national security costs, such as protecting foreign sources of oil. These producers and users of energy do not pay for these costs. Society as a whole must pay for them (either now or in the future). The pricing system, therefore, masks the true cost of fossil fuels. A similar analysis could be made for cigarettes. A pack of cigarettes costs less than $2.00 in the United States, over $5.00 in Canada. The American Medical Association indicates that the cost of increased medical services for those that smoke should add an additional $2.20 to a pack of cigarettes. If you add the increased risk of forest and residential fires, this would bring the real cost of cigarettes to over $5.00 per pack. Old community design standards should be replaced so that humanity and nature can blend to mutually supportive relationships. Relationships between government, society and institutions may need modifying and encompass "risk management." Risk management, like value engineering, assesses the least risk approach for investment of governmental society and institutional resources. For example, to add child seat restraints in commercial airlines may cost tens of millions of dollars and may save only two or three infants per year at the most. Whereas that investment in improved highway safety or inoculations for preschool children may save hundreds or thousands of lives per year. At the Florida Environmental Expo sponsored by EPA in Tampa, Florida October 12-14,1993, one of the speakers suggested that while well-meaning standards of "one in a million" for pesticide use may have adverse affects in other ways, one in a million standard means that no more than one child in a million would be killed from pesticide use on vegetables and fruits. The adverse effect could mean increased cost of vegetables and fruits, and translates to reduced availability for those in lower income groups. Some environmentalists feel that the Florida panther and other species are doomed because of Florida's burgeoning population. Others argue that increasing the life span of humans actually adds to the cost of medical care and exacerbates the impact of humans on the environment. Some environmentalists have advocated a politically incorrect proposal to limit population growth, similar to that being done in China today, by increasing the taxes on those families that have more than one child. Some of these concepts are bold and horrifying and there will be no consensus on correctness. Nevertheless, there need to be bold new decisions that embody the concepts of value engineering and risk management from a holistic and futuristic point of view to achieve world sustainability. At the State Conference on Community Sustainability held in Sarasota, Florida May 25-27, 1993, several presentations were made on sustainable community development. One topic covered was sustainable food production by Craig Watson, Extension Service Aquaculture Agent II. Mr. Watson pointed out that certain fish species such as catfish and Tilapia have been used to develop economical sources of protein meat in some third world countries. The advantages of Tilapia farming are general hardiness, resistance to diseases, high yield potentials due to resistance to overcrowding, and the ability to withstand low dissolved oxygen levels. They also utilize a wide range of natural and artificial feeds. When reared under good aquatic farming practices, Tilapia represent an excellent table fish with firm, white flesh and no intermuscular bones. Mississippi Delta catfish and Tilapia have been produced on a large scale with commercial success. However, Mr. Watson cautioned that small-scale Florida catfish and Tilapia producers (5 acres or under) would find it difficult to compete commercially with these large scale producers. During the conference it was noted by others that as much as 10 pounds of feed is required to produce one pound of meat in cattle, compared to approximately 5 pounds of feed to produce one pound of meat in sheep and smaller food animals; approximately 2 1/2 pounds of feed for poultry, and approximately 2 pounds of feed for catfish. This contention is the basis for the Sierra Club and other environmental activist groups suggesting cattle production in South America is responsible for the large-scale demise of South American rain forests. They advocate more reliance on what they believe are efficient protein sources of food such as poultry, catfish and Tilapia as a way to minimize this impact. Another presentation discussed the principles of the visionary architect William McDonough, who developed the Hannover principle. This principle is a distillation of a 60-page discussion of ecological principles, developed for the city of Hannover, Germany, as they relate to the design of cities, buildings or even products. This city is hosting the World's Fair in the year 2,000. The document serves as a master plan for the numerous design competitions that will be held over the course of the fair's development.

The Hannover Principles

1. Insist on rights of humanity and nature to coexist in a healthy, supportive, diverse, and sustainable condition.
2. Recognize interdependence.
3. Respect relationships between spirit and matter.
4. Accept responsibility for the consequences of design decisions upon human well-being, the viability of natural systems, and their right to coexist.
5. Create safe objects of long-term value.
6. Eliminate the concept of waste.
7. Rely on natural energy flows.
8. Understand the limitations of design.
9. Seek constant improvement by the sharing of knowledge.

The Hannover Principles should be seen as a living document committed to the transformation and growth in the understanding of our interdependence with nature, so that they may adapt as our knowledge of the world evolves. Conceived by William McDonough, New York architect. Printed in Interiors, March 1993.

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