Beyond Growth. Elements of Sustainable Development

Abstract

The ratio of words to action is weighted too heavily towards the former. UNEP Ten-Year Report, 1984 * Approved at an international meeting of environmentalists, economists and techni cians at the Aspen Institute in Berlin (West), October 13-16,1985. Environmental Sectors Environmental Damage A ir Pollution ca. 48.0 Health hazards Material damage Degradation ofvegetation Forest blight, etc. between 2.3 -5.8 more than 2.3 more than 1.0 between 5.5 and 8.8 Water Pollution far more than 17.6 Damage to rivers and lakes Damage to the North Sea and Baltic Sea Contamination of ground water, etc. more than 14.3 far more than 0 3 more than 3.0 Soil Contamination far more than 5.2 Costs of Chernobyl disaster Rehabilitation of 'yesterday's waste' Costs of preserving biotopes and species Other sod contamination, etc. far more than 2.4 more than 1.7 more than 1.0 far more than 0.1 Noise more than 32.7 Degradation of residential amenities Productivity losses 'Noise rents', etc. more than 29.3 more than 3.0 more than 0.4 Grand total of damage more than 103.5 Source: Wicke.

Le développement durable : paysage intellectuel

“…Sans vouloir remonter trop loin dans l'analyse des filiations, on peut distinguer trois courants théoriques princi paux au sein des milieux de scientifiques et d'experts concernés par l'analyse du dévelop pement économique et de ses conséquences sur l'environnement'. Dès le début des années soixante-dix, en particulier sous l'égide du PNUE, un pre mier courant de pensée (Farvar, 1977 ;Glaeser, 1984 ;Simonis, 1990) s'était attaché à promouvoir ce qui fut appelé des "stratégies d'écodéveloppement" (Sachs, 1974(Sachs, , 1980(Sachs, , 1993. Conçues comme une nouvelle approche du développement, ces stratégies étaient centrées sur la satisfaction des besoins fondamentaux (habitat, alimentation, énergie de cuisson, eau, conditions sanitaires, éduca tion et santé et participation à la décision) des populations les plus démunies, prioritaire ment dans les pays en développement, l'adap tation des technologies et des modes de vie aux potentialités et contraintes spécifiques de chaque écozone, la valorisation des déchets et l'organisation de l'exploitation des res sources renouvelables par la conception de sys tèmes de production bouclés systématisant les cycles écologiques.…”

The Urgent Need for Rapid Transition to Global Environmental Sustainability

“…The world at present is hurtling away from environmental sustainability (Simonis, 1990;Meadows & Randers, 1992). The global society is being maintained only through the exhaustion and dispersion of a one-time inheritance of natural capital -such as topsoil, groundwater, tropical forest, fisheries, and biodiversity.…”

Environment Sustainability, Human Health and Media Function

“…A second global model embraces "sustainable development" as the key issue for establishing harmonious relationships between economic development and environmental stewardship. "Ecological modernization", originally emerging out of the writings of Joseph Huber, Barry Commoner and Udo Simonis, sends a contradictory message to risk society theory with regard to the positive benefits of science and technology (Simonis, 1988;Commoner, 1990;Mol and Spaargarten, 1993). This theory appeared as a useful response to the failures of the initial wave of environmental management of the 1970s and early 1980s.…”