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Measuring Sustainable Lifestyles and Sustainability

Measuring Sustainable Lifestyles and Sustainability. Sylvia Karlsson and Arthur Dahl International Environment Forum. Indicators.  No system can be managed without information Dashboards Bank statements Achieving sustainability also requires information

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Measuring Sustainable Lifestyles and Sustainability

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  1. Measuring Sustainable Lifestyles and Sustainability Sylvia Karlsson and Arthur Dahl International Environment Forum

  2. Indicators •  No system can be managed without information • Dashboards • Bank statements • Achieving sustainability also requires information • Indicators are numbers/symbols that tell something about the system

  3. Use of indicators • Information for decision-making • Public information • Early warning, vulnerability • Indicators can provide guidance for adaptive management, which is necessary when we do not fully understand complex systems.

  4. Types of indicators • Statistics (GNP, unemployment rate) • Materials flows • Ecological footprints • Scientific data (CO2 concentration) • Maps, GIS • Other types of information

  5. Indicators of sustainable development • Rio Earth Summit adopted Agenda 21 • UNDP Human Development Index • Commission on Sustainable Development, Programme of Work on Indicators • SCOPE project on Indicators of Sustainability • Menu of 134 indicators, DSIR framework • Revised set of 52 core indicators • SCOPE Assessment of Sustainability Indicators

  6. NGO Initiatives • Environmental Sustainability Index • Ecological Footprint • WWF Living Planet Index • IUCN Wealth of Nations • BIC Spiritually Based Indicators for Development

  7. Local Indicators • Sustainable Seattle • Fraser Valley, BC, Canada • Local Agenda 21 in many communities

  8. Status of indicator development Challenge of measuring sustainability and sustainable development • Temporal and spatial scales • Planetary limits • Vulnerability and resilience • Irreversibility • Reference values, baselines, targets • Data drivenness

  9. Defining Development Other dimensions than material: • Cultural diversity • Global consciousness • Equality of men and women • Participation in science/knowledge

  10. Process of indicator development Challenges of developing indicators through processes that ensure their universal applicability: • Comparing countries • Diversity of development goals • Equity • Democracy

  11. Individual indicators • There are indicators that individuals, families and communities can use to measure the sustainability of their lifestyles. • More should be done to help each person develop and use such indicators to manage their own well-being and sustainability. • Such indicators can also contribute substantially to education for sustainable development.

  12. Examples of individual indicators • Water consumption, use of polluting materials (detergent, cleaners, toxics) • Energy: Electricity/gas consumption, heating bills, CO2 budget • Transport: automobile mileage, public transport use, bicycle use, walking • Food: purchases of fast food,organic, fair trade; weight gain; number of meatless meals

  13. Examples 2 • Clothing: number of shirts, dresses, shoes; expenditures on clothes • Housing: number of rooms per person, cost • Technology: number of electronic devices bought/discarded • Contact with nature, animals (hrs/week) • Travel for recreation, tourism (km) • Experiences of beauty, cultural diversity

  14. Examples 3 • Community: participation in activities • Solidarity: gifts to charity, development • Altruism: volunteer service • Spirituality: daily prayer

  15. Action • Make up your own sustainability indicator profile • Compare your progress yearly • In school, develop a class indicator profile (choose, measure, analyze)

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