Collective Responsibility Shanghai’s Informal Waste Management Report

Pages 1 -25

KEY Concepts: 

• China’s waste management system has 2 parts 
  • Part 1: Formal Government-run that is composed primarily contracted companies that collect, sort, incinerate, compost and dispose of waste
  • Part 2: Private “Informal” collectors who collect, store, and sell waste 
• The current situation/model is not sustainable because of the lack of resources
  • The model is currently dependent on incinerators and improper or not necessarily healthy ways of disposal 
• Private collectors are useful assets because they specialize in recycling and reusing in a sense that they sell waste to various factories that divert trash from landfills (BUT they rarely work with the formal sector) 
• Incineration: I didn’t know incineration was such a major aspect of waste management in China. I always thought that it had a negative connotation and was adding more to the pollutants in the air. However, after reading that some cities are able to utilize incineration as a means of producing energy in the form of electricity – I have a newfound understanding of its potential. HOWEVER, I’m still quite hesitant in its use as burning certain types of waste does and will always produce airborne pollutants and factories are often built in places where they can be seen as obtrusive or an eyesore. 
• Informal Trash Collection: Self-reliant and efficient, the work that they do displaces the flow of waste to a singular facility and in turn, assisting in the minimization of waste through proper (sorting & selling). I see these informal trash collectors on a daily basis, riding in bikes with mounds of recyclable/sorted material through the streets of Shanghai. 
• Fears: The second, third, and fourth-tier cities will eventually be/potentially be considered in the same capacity as Shanghai or Beijing. It worries me that cities are still taking a reactive approach to reducing waste instead of proactively lessening their consumption to reduce waste production in the long-run.

 

Sustainability. MIT Press 2015. The Concepts of Sustainability

Pages 38-56

KEY Concepts: 

• Sustainable Business
  • Business Council for Sustainable Dev. And the World Industry Council 
    • Created the World Business Council for Sustainable Dev. 
    • Coined the “triple bottom line” approach which is a report that companies use to measure their environmental impact 
• Sustainability and Equity
  • The concept of equity in sustainability furthers the idea of instability and tensions between wealthier and developing countries – often marginalized and the root of the disagreements between what is fair and equitable for their particular needs
• Sustainable Communities 
  • Building sustainable communities foster a type of social responsibility and social capital that is composed of people in an interconnected fashion – often creating various opportunities to connect, discuss, and make changes within their social strata 
• Sustainable Cities 
  • Linked to urbanization and public policy – a sustainable city is a concept that correlates with how cities manage their waste and their efforts to minimize their impact on sustainability via their local/govs. 
• Sustainable Consumption
  • Highlights the discourses on human consumption and the number of finite resources we possess (who gets to consume & what is the impact of this consumption) – how we can better provide and sustain the future generation’s well being 
• Sustainability in the Nonprofit Sector
  • The nonprofit sector can be viewed as a “bridge” between the local sector (residents, publicly elected officials, and business), they also facilitate physical efforts through events like (food banks, physical fitness initiatives, inner-city gardens, etc.) 
  • They also develop energy programs and other means of organization that is often looked over by large governing bodies (governments and etc.) and are often funded or provide funding for initiatives that promote an overall greater sustainability 
• The tragedy of the Commons 
  • Similar concept to the finite resource problem, its prevalence can be most seen when individuals make decisions against the common good of all users – utilizing all of the available resources in a collective fashion 

Installation Reflection 

“Agatha” – Mother Nature

The concept of “Agatha” or mother nature was a collective effort to try and visualize what our ecosystem would look like using discarded waste products. The group created or tried to create a “cloud-like” persona using trash (a recycled bag filled with Styrofoam and wrapped in bubble wrap) for the cloud portion and created string/rope using plastic bags) and hung various debris to symbolize a rain of trash. The bottom section of the installation represents the finite land and water resources we have by using a select group of blue and green waste products. This contained a plethora of items from old green Tsingtao bottles, food containers such as blue soy milk packets, and other various discarded materials. The installation was then placed in a strategic area, displayed near the second-floor café trashcans to show students and faculty what can be made from their own waste products and to remind them of their daily consumption.

 

What I learned: Ideally, the installation was to be hung somewhere around the café as it represented a cloud, this feat proved to be more difficult than expected. Due to time constraints, the installation was placed on a chair near the waste receptacles in the café, but I personally did not think it had the same effect as if it were properly installed/hung somewhere on the ceiling. As a future reference, the installation did not last. Meaning that because some pieces of trash were heavier than others and since we did not use traditional methods of putting together the piece, after a few days in the café – the appearance of the installation began to deteriorate. Pieces began to disappear or appear to “fall-off”, making the installation look unsightly and did not convey the original message/idea.

IMG_2277

Week 3 — Response to the Field Trip 

 

Five team members each perform their duties, successfully completed the drawing of the trash map. From the figure, we can see that the first floor and above are mainly recycled, residual waste and household food waste, while the negative layer- cafeteria garbage contains paper waste. Transport vehicles are often sorted 

out of five types of waste from 1 to 3 pm, from Monday to Saturday.

 

My point of view:

In the figure, the layout of a building is clear, the visualization effect and the visual effect are good. Besides, the main functions and garbage types of each layer are clearly displayed. Thus, it is a detailed and readable map. Among them, the specific time of how the garbage on the negative second floor is transported and the garbage truck is transported is also mentioned.

After careful observation, it was found that there was no harmful garbage and other garbage on the first floor to the 15th floor, but these two types of garbage appeared in the parking garage. It needs explains.

My advice:

①Since there are four students involved in the investigation of garbage types, I think that in the trash map, we can add a part to explain how to deal with these kinds of garbage separately and popularize knowledge.

②Parking garage can draw the corresponding number of grids in proportion, more intuitively showing the proportion of all kinds of garbage in the building of New York University in Shanghai.

③The specific functions and main activities of the third to 15th layer can be explained in the free area of ​​the chart.

The trash map is very readable and aesthetic, but it needs to be considered more in detail.

For last week’s in-class assignment I was partnered with Kimmy, Joyce, James, Mehr and Eva. We decided to create a table that “serves” food, which is made entirely like plastic. The meal and its contents would be displayed on a glass stand, identical to the one used in most restaurants in China. The symbolism behind our piece is the idea that the amount of plastic pollution is so high that marine animals mistake plastic waste such as plastic bags and food packaging for food. This results in their entanglement, endangerment and in some cases, death. I proposed the idea of the table with different meals to illustrate this issue.

 

The materials we had for the realization of our project were numerous plastic bags, food packaging parts, food takeout bags, straws and an abundance of bubble wrap and foil. 

 

I was in charge of the creative aspect and created the flowers for the table out of straws and apple packaging. In addition, I created “sushi” out of styrofoam and bubblewrap. I also created “guacamole” out of yogurt packaging.

My other teammates created “salad” by shredding plastic bags and placing them in original salad packaging. Desserts were also created through styrofoam rolls that were meant to represent cake rolls.

A major observation I had in the course of this project was the immense amount of waste that each of us as citizens produces. Although the trash was only from a week and not all students brought all of their trash, the amount of waste was considerable. The fact that we used the trash to create art with meaning is one form of “use” for the trash, however it made me think about all the trash that each individual produces everyday. The amount is so massive that, even if recycled or disposed of properly, the production of trash is considerably faster than its reproduction into useful materials.

 

This brings attention to the importance of creating recycling facilities and the investment in better plastic trash disposal infrastructure, which while allowing for economic growth does not contribute to the pollution of the environment and its inhabitants.

 

Our installation titled :”You are what you eat” a.k.a. trash was set up in the school’s cafeteria. Numerous friends and acquaintances of mine informed me that they were very intrigued by its design and took multiple pictures which they proceeded to post on social media. Hopefully this will raise awareness among campus as to the amount of trash each student produces in a single week and draw attention to magnitude of today’s waste crisis.In addition, my team included the description of various facts about plastic, as well as the different types of plastic that exist. I believe that our installation was both striking in its presentation and thought-provoking. It prompted our peers to take a second look and stop to read the descriptions. It is my hope that at least half of the people that view the installation will think about the amount of plastic products they consume and take action to limit this amount.

For our art installation, we initially brainstormed ideas such as a person eating trash. However, once Eva brought in the round circling into the room, we immediately decided to make some sort of trash food buffet. Through cutting up, folding and colouring in plastic and trash, we were able to make various types of trash food such as sushi, rolls, salad, cakes and pasta. They turned out a lot better than expected, surprisingly enough. We then placed it on a table in front of the cafeteria, along with a title and a description highlighting how much waste food packaging for ele.me and other corporations use.

There are some things we didn’t get to include some things we made. For example, we started by trying to make a table out of cardboard to prop up the circle, along with a red table cloth made out of strips of plastic. However, this did not end up working as it would’ve taken too much time.

~~

For this week’s reading on “China’s Informal Waste” report describes the most popular ways China manages their waste: landfill, incineration and the informal sector. The informal sector’s role in waste management is essential to sorting out trash and providing businesses with cheaper options to discard their waste. However, with the supply of waste increasing, governments now have to find a more efficient way to clear waste whilst also leading as an example as a “modern streamlined global city”

On the other hand, the “Concept of Sustainability” outlines how sustainability and businesses don’t necessarily have to contradict and go against each other. The cities that were able to come up with the most sustainable practices were able to do so with good design and public policy which essentially, led to behavioural changes in consumption.

Both the readings gave me interesting insight into how trash is managed in Shanghai, in addition to the talk in the previous week, and how we can move forward into creating a more sustainable future.

Idea

Our art installation aims to remind people that the trash we throw away is not away– “There is no away” according to the idea of “Bag It” documentary. The trash that seems to be disposed of go to stream, ocean, land or even sky.  The idea of making a raining-trash cloud comes from the plastic pieces in the sky. That trash that we dispose of, especially plastic have incredible durability that in hundreds of year could they be totally disposed of. It definitely ruins our environment and sacrifices carrying capacity of the future. We want to encourage people to pay attention to the trash they throw away in daily life so as to help them form the sense of trash in life.

Making process:

We mainly use the materials of bubble wrap, plastic bottles, the one-used plastic package for food, wrap for delivery, white foam board, wine glasses bottle and plastic bags. For the cloud part, which I am mainly responsible for, we use a huge cloth bag and many pieces of white foam board to make the body of cloud. Then, we use many bubble wrap to shape the cloud. For the rain, we cut plastic bags into pieces of rope as the tool to tie the plastic bottles and connect them to the cloud. It is really interesting that at first, we decided to make several small holes in the cloud so as to tie the plastic ropes to the cloud, but we found out that it is okay but it might fall down. So we decided to use the tap.

For land and water on the ground, we use different color elements: blue and green. We use all the green trash to represent the ground and all the blue trash to represent the water. We cover all the trash on cardboard so as to make it more stable. For stabilization, we use a glue which was found in the trash by accident.

For the show position, we decide to choose 2f cafe because we think that it is the best place because we can hang our cloud on the top or just on the stairs. But eventually, we just put on a high chair beside the garbage bin.

Reflection:

Generally, I am pretty satisfied with our installation because we make it “artistic” instead of just the combination of many trash pieces. Then we have a really good idea and aim. But I think we can do it matter on some perspectives. Firstly, we didn’t use all the trash we collect in the last two weeks. That is not good to some extent because we throw them away again. Secondly, we use other materials besides what we collect: glues and tapes. For the showing position, it will be much better if we can hang our cloud on the top of the cafe.

 

Reading Response:

-Collective Responsibilities

In this reading, the key concept that I learn about is that the recycling industry in Shanghai is mainly divided into two parts: the formal sector(government) and informal sector(private trash collectors). In the formal sector, trash mostly go landfill and incinerated. Informal sector consists of much private trash collectors. They go across buildings and street to collect trash and sell them to swapping point or larger-scale recycling center. But those people are ununified and in independent working mode. They are “informal”. The future of the recycling industry in Shanghai should be that government incorporate the informal collectors and formalized them into a rounded industry. There are many business opportunities to unify those individual workers so that to form a formal system. Besides, the government should invest more in the building of incinerators and recycling facilities so as to enhance the ability of trash treatment. 

-Sustainability

The most valuable information but not the latest is that the idea of sustainability doesn’t contradict to business. The concept of “sustainability” is not to meet the needs currently without sacrificing the ability to meets the needs of the future. For business, in common sense, it will definitely go against the sustainabilities, which is wrong. But the thing is that we need to come up with sustainable practices.

 

Trash Map:

In our group, we divide the work into two parts: research and visualization. I choose the visualization part. For research, our group members reached An Ayi who collects trash from classrooms and got the conclusion that all the trash sorted will go to B2, which is the parking garage for our school. Then, our group went to B2 to research more. 

The parking garage is organized neatly, which is totally different from my imagination. The garbage bins are in different color: red, green, blue and black. The categories are Kitchen waste(come from cafeteria and cafe as I guess), Harmful waste, recyclable waste and residual waste(from all the garbage bins in AB) and other waste(I am not sure which kind of waste should belong to this category actually).

The trash truck will come to AB every day from 1 pm to 3 pm, except Sunday.

According to the work of research, I got the idea of drawing an AB and highlight the important floors like B1 and B2. Maya drew our map based on my idea and we finally got:

As we can see, we divide AB into 3-15f and floors below 3f. We highlight the b1 and b2 and the trash truck. The text and icon on the right part are the categories of trash sorting.

 

Art Installation Documentation

Artist Statement

Our installation is a representation of the permanence of waste in our environment. The prevalence of plastic waste in particular is especially harmful because of its durability. The plastic we produce does not just go away: it makes its way into our streets, streams and oceans. However, we do not necessarily see its everlasting presence in our oceans as we go about our daily lives. This piece aims to shed light on this issue by creating a source of water we do commonly see, rain, but created entirely out of waste in an effort to force us to reconsider the amount of waste, especially single-use disposables, we produce on a daily basis.

Process

We started off by separating and categorizing all of the trash we had collected and found that we had a large amount of plastic bags, bottles, food packaging and bubble wrap, as well as a few cardboard boxes.

For the clouds of the piece, we took the bubble wrap and attached it to one of the cardboard boxes to give it a “cloud-like” texture.

For the trash rain, we made string by cutting strips from plastic bags and twisting them together. We then used this plastic string to tie various pieces of trash.

Lastly, the land and water component for the bottom was made out of trash that was mostly green and blue. We used a piece of cardboard as the platform, covered it in pieces of plastic bags to solidify the colors, and then placed the other trash components on top.

Ideally, we wanted to hang the piece in the cafe but this proved to be more difficult than we thought. The placement ended up being on a bench next to the waste bins in order for students and staff to consider their waste use as they are throwing it away.

Reflection

Overall, I’m satisfied with the piece but there are definitely aspects we could have improved. There was one new material we used that was not part of the waste we collected, and that was the tape we used to tape the bubble wrap to the cardboard boxes for the clouds. A way we could have avoided this was perhaps using more string made from plastic bags, or even ripped tape from the cardboard boxes.

Another aspect that could be improved is the presentation. I’m not sure placing it next to the trash bins is effective, considering we are not necessarily trying to encourage people to properly dispose of their single-use disposables, but rather discourage people to use them in the first place. It might have been more effective to place the installation closer to the cafe where the snacks and bottled drinks can be purchased in an effort to have people reconsider buying these items.

 

Trash Map

For the trash map, we decided to divide into two different groups: the research group and the visualization group. I was part of the research group, where we went on a little investigation to find out where our school’s trash was going.

We started out by thinking about the various places that you could discard of your waste, and what kinds of waste you could dispose of in each place. In the classrooms, hallways and second floor cafe, you can dispose of recyclable, residual, and household food waste. The B1 cafeteria is structured a little differently: you can dispose of recyclables and food waste, and a special bin labeled “paper” (napkins).

We then wanted to know where this trash went once it was inside the bins. We spoke to an ayi who was collecting trash from a classroom on the second floor, who told us after she collects the trash from the bins she takes it to the B2 parking garage.

We then went to the B2 parking garage and walked around until we found the waste area, which was divided into household food waste, other waste, harmful waste, recyclable waste and residual waste.

There was a man working there when we saw the room, so we asked him where the trash goes after it’s brought to B2 — he told us a garbage truck comes everyday from 1-3pm except on Sundays (…if I understood that Chinese correctly). However, he was not sure where exactly the truck took the trash.

After this little investigation, the visualization group created this beautiful trash map:

I think the language barrier was a bit of a limitation in getting all of the answers we were seeking. I’m still curious as to where exactly the garbage truck takes the trash everyday, as well as whether or not all of the trash is truly properly sorted when it goes out (and if not, who is responsible for making sure it is).

 

Thoughts on Readings

In The Concepts of Sustainability, it is brought up that the current ways of sustainability do not properly balance the “equity” component. However, I would think that consumers’ increasing awareness of environmental problems would provide more opportunities for companies to be visibly sustainable and market themselves as such to appeal to more consumers.

The informal sector of waste management as presented in Shanghai’s Informal Waste Management Project also shows that there is indeed an opportunity for economic gain in the sustainability realm. However, this brings up the question of how exactly the government would be able to formalize the process without getting rid of the current economic incentive for informal workers to collect, sort and sell waste. It was interesting how one of the quotes in the presentation mentioned how “the government is trying hard to shut us down.” It makes sense for the government to want proper regulation over the waste management system for tracking and policing reasons, but I wonder if there is a way to do both this and keep those 3.3 to 5.6 million people in China’s informal industry employed.

Name: Mehr Un Nisa Javed
Date: 20th September’2019
Professor: Marcela Godoy

Objective: Document the art installation done for week 3 in class

How we did it?

The entire class was divided in a group of 2 and each had 6 members. The group division was done by the professor. We used the waste we had collected in the week 2 for this weeks art installation. We had a lot of waste which included plastic but was not limited to it. We got a circular movable thing from the IMA Lab from someones last year project. It perfectly fitted as a moveable table so we used it for that. Our idea was to make a moveable table which had a lot of trays, bowls, cups, etc which are usually on the tables. We filled them up with a number of things such as the Salad bowls, and other eatables such as sushi. This would exemplify how we humans eat stuff and what kind of waste is produced by those eatables.

We also made two humans sort of figures with the plastic. They were entirely made by the plastic wraps and then there eyes were made with marker to give a more realistic look. We put them hanging from the upper part of a 5 liter bottle which was cut into half. They basically represented our art installation idea ” you are what you eat” and in this case the humans would be fully made out of plastic because they consumer plastic so much.
These are the two human made out of plastic:

Here’s how our installation looked like, at the end: In the final version some interesting facts were also added along with the description so that our installation would be understandable and would be fun for the viewers as it would generate their interest into it and would incline them on reading it further.

Reflection:
I found this whole idea and the process of doing it very interesting and very useful as well as encouraged me to be a more responsible citizen who would be able to make a difference with their doings. I hope we could work on similar things in the future and if we get a chance to develop it further it would be fully developed and more interesting and fun for people to view and learn from it.

Name: Mehr Un Nisa Javed
Date:18th September 2019
Professor: Marcela Godoy

Week 2: Topic: Plastic Waste and Its Impact on Ecosystems

I found both of the readings fairly interesting;

“The Concepts of Sustainability” MIT Press & “Accumulation: The Material Politics of Plastic”

As for the first reading I found the introduction regarding sustainability very useful but it was not something which was very unusual. Moreover, great angles of sustainability were covered and it was approached through different views in order to basically understand what It really is. It was also interesting to know that how the concept of Sustainability went through so much of evolution since the 1980s. Further, according to Google’s Ngram tool, by 1990 it was 10 times more frequent in English than it had been in 1980; by 2008 it was a 70x multiple. Therefore,it has been said to rest on “three E’s”: environment, economy and equity.This really helped me to understand that the concept of sustainability can only be achieved if all the three elements are worked closely together on. Moreover, it talk about suitability further explanation by making the reader understand that “It is clear that, it at its core, suitability is the concept that focuses on the conditions of the earth biophysical environment, particularly with respect to the use and depletion of natural resources. It is not the same as environmental protection”.This further clarifies the ambiguities that sustainability does not have a direct connection with the protection of the environment. Finally, we can say that we must all strive towards a more sustainable life so that the choices for our future generations are not narrowed by us in any way and they are also able to enjoy all the non-renewable resources. Its not just important to protect the resources for our future but also for our present because as it is said in the article that those cities are progressing very rapidly economically which have started to work in a more sustainable way.

“Accumulation: The Material Politics of Plastic Plastic economies: Made to be wasted PET and topologies of disposability”

I found this reading very interesting and it basically talks about the increased usage of plastic due to multiple reasons such as it ready to hand nature, its durability and how it completely changed the packaging industry. Nowadays, plastic being so cheap has completely changed even the perspective of the consumers because they believe plastic could be thrown away anytime because of its low value but we consumers do not understand that how plastic has led to the degradation of our environment.Therefore we must change our practices and shift to the more sustainable ways even if they are expensive but they would not harm our Mother Earth as much as plastic.

Guest Lecture- Richard Brubaker

The guest speaker for last week was Richard Brubaker and he is the founder of Collective Responsibility.I found the talk by Richard very illuminating because how he explained that collecting garbage could be so beneficial actually really intrigued me and how he shared his friends and his personal anecdotes also added a lot of weightage to his lecture and my learning through it. To be honest, I had no idea that garbage collectors could be one of the richest people and thus, shedding light on how you could save your enivdrnmet/plant and at the same time earn money was very interesting. He addressed many areas of waste pollution and the one which really got me in was the textile waste because we actually do not ever wear 70% of our closet.

Name: Eva Solo

Date: 18/09/19 

Professor: Marcela Godoy 

 

I’d like to begin my journal for this week reflecting on the talk we heard from Richard. I was very moved, as every fact thrown my way felt new and unfamiliar. This was the first time I had even consider “trash” to be a valuable material, and after this realisation I began observing the city. Truthfully said, it was like Shanghai transformed, as all I saw now were raw-material collectors on their bikes with the mountains of cardboard, plastic, and styrofoam. I was very curious about my community, and how trash circulates in my neighbourhood so I began my exploration.

First I observed my building: The stairways would be filled with boxed in the evening, yet on my way to school they would be empty. I stared waking up a little bit earlier and peeking out the door to see if I could talk to the collector.  On Monday morning I was up and around before 7 am, so I go outside as the night before we left a lot of cardboard boxes outside our door and I was going to bring them down. I met 余 (yu) then, and although there was definitely a language barrier she let me know that any recyclables/raw materials we leave outside the door she will collect, and her /colleague or friend/ sorts out the station outside.

The station outside: On three different days I took the same lap around the neighbourhood. On this route I saw residence bringing sorted and not sorted trash out to the station, yet no one at the station during the majority of the day. The trash holes were locked away and as Richard pointed out, people just left the bags by the side. At around 10:30 I saw a man unlocking the station and turning the lights on to sort trash. I am not sure what his schedule is like but I’ve seen him at the station past 3 am on some weekend nights. 

 

While reading “The Concepts of Sustainability”  I felt strongly about two things: 1) Society needs to incorporate sustainable efforts into their daily routine; 2) I’m not sure the first can be executed since we are still trying to define these concepts ourselves, let alone trying to convey them to skeptics.  Although it is important to formulate an understanding of the theoretical definition when it comes to sustainability, the practical scenario is well summarised in the quotation “Sustainability, then, is often associated with maintaining Earth’s carrying capacity, usually through alterations of individual and collective human behaviour or through the application of new and developing technologies to minimise the effects of those behaviours” (12). Another emphasis in this section highlights the importance of individual contribution, because through the individual efforts the collective begins to showcase strength, and there is a lot of strength in numbers, especially when discussing our shared Earth. All of these personal efforts would be directing our energy into the planet’s benefit  and climbing over self-ego needs to happen before we even attempt to fix all of our already-made destruction. This egoistic perspective I am referencing, is the exact focal point of “Made to be Wasted”. In the current time period, shot-term gain is somehow more valued than longevity which puts our society in a vicious self torture cycle. The current mind-set is ‘how to fix’ but we should also be emphasising prevention rather than creating a problem (which gain finances) and then attempting to fix that problem collectively. The general public is not free to make their own choices, but rather are influenced by the few options that are easily provided to them by the suppliers. Overall, I am much more conscious what I buy and who I support through my financing. I also started looking at packaging in a whole new light, and also limited my taobao shopping if the item can be purchase in a physical store to avoid all of the unnecessary wasted material.

 

Guest Lecture: Richard Brubaker

Last week’s lecture was particularly enlightening. I had always had a heightened interest in sustainability and was very glad to have the chance to absorb some of our guest speaker’s impressive knowledge about sustainability. The speaker was Richard Brubaker and he is the founder of Collective Responsibility. In his talk, he addressed the ways in which he works with a multitude of well-known brands such as Adidas and Nike to educate them about ways to grow their business while at the same time limiting the harmful impact that economic development can have on the environment and its natural resources. He addressed multiple issues such as the wastefulness of the textile industry and the lack of sustainable solutions for the disposal of recyclable material.

 

Readings:

In the “Concepts of Sustainability” reading, there were several interesting ideas brought up. The reading addressed the various discrepancies that arise when attempting to define sustainability and the myriad definitions it has had through the years. The article mentions that the U.S. has now entered the third environmental epoch in its history and addresses the newfound dilemma the U.S. now faces with China’s new waste import policy which limits the amount of recyclables China will be accepting from the rest of the world. The articles  draws an important distinction between sustainability and environmental protection, claiming that sustainability is less about targeting specific environmental issues and more about finding a steady state so that the Earth can support the human population and its need for economic growth, without threatening the health of its species and biosphere. Another point of distinction is that sustainability focuses on long-term dynamic processes, while environmental protection focuses on tackling specific environmental threats. 

The reading defines the 3 E’s of sustainability as: environment, economy and equity. The importance of this concept is that sustainability can be achieved only by simultaneously protecting the environment, preserving economic growth and development and promoting equality. the theory rejects the notion that there is necessarily a trade-off between economic growth and the environment or between economic growth and equity. Brown focused on “sustainable biological resources use”, “sustainable agriculture”, “carrying capacity”, “sustainable energy”, “sustainable economy”, “sustainable society”, “sustainable development”.