Revisions made by tamc up to 11:10 Tue 09 Aug 2005

11:10 Tue 09 Aug 2005

1. 6. Economists say utility, which I guess translates as 'happiness'. But are we trying to maintain the total happiness? the mean happiness? the median happiness? the minimum happiness?
2. 6. Economists say utility, which I guess translates as 'happiness'. But are we trying to maintain:
3. 7. * the total happiness?
4. 8. * the mean happiness?
5. 9. * the median happiness?
6. 10. * the minimum happiness?
7. 22. Theories of justice (what if you didn't know who you would be born as?) or self interest (more brains needed to solve the problem) or self interest (its not really about the people, but about the environment, and we need better developed people in order to protect the bits of the global ecosystem that are in developing areas) or self interest (they will be the ancestors of your kids as well as you).
8. 26. * Theories of justice - what if you didn't know who you would be born as? or
9. 27. * Self interest - more brains needed to solve the problem or
10. 28. * Self interest - its not really about the people, but about the environment, and we need better developed people in order to protect the bits of the global ecosystem that are in developing areas or
11. 29. * Self interest - they will be the ancestors of your kids as well as you.

11:08 Tue 09 Aug 2005

1. 0. h1. Key questions about sustainable development
2. 1.
3. 2. I'm using this page to jot down what I think are the key debates in sustainable development. Let me know at tamc2@cam.ac.uk if you have any additions.
4. 3.
5. 4. h2. What are we sustaining?
6. 5.
7. 6. Economists say utility, which I guess translates as 'happiness'. But are we trying to maintain the total happiness? the mean happiness? the median happiness? the minimum happiness?
8. 7.
9. 8. h2. Why should we bother?
10. 9.
11. 10. Could be based on theories of justice, which base around, what would you want to be the case if you didn't know when or where you were going to live.
12. 11.
13. 12. Could be based around self interest. There is a great deal of uncertainty about when environmental or social collapse could take place. Therefore there is a chance it could be in your lifetime.
14. 13.
15. 14. h2. How much should we bother?
16. 15.
17. 16. Should we value future generations needs as much as our own, or should we have a discount rate?
18. 17.
19. 18. Theories of justice imply no discount rate. However if we consider innovation then we should be able to discount enviornmental destruction, and there is always the risk that something else will kill us all.
20. 19.
21. 20. h2. Why develop (ie why worry about sustaining other people)?
22. 21.
23. 22. Theories of justice (what if you didn't know who you would be born as?) or self interest (more brains needed to solve the problem) or self interest (its not really about the people, but about the environment, and we need better developed people in order to protect the bits of the global ecosystem that are in developing areas) or self interest (they will be the ancestors of your kids as well as you).
24. 23.
25. 24. h2. Are resources a problem?
26. 25.
27. 26. * No. Conservation of matter.
28. 27. * Yes. Need matter in useful forms.
29. 28. * Yes. Need matter in useful concentrations in useful locations.
30. 29. * No. Given energy we can undo anything we do.
31. 30. * Yes. Do we know how to undo?
32. 31. * Yes. Have we enough power to undo?
33. 32.
34. 33. h2. Is energy a problem?
35. 34.
36. 35. * No. Conservation of energy.
37. 36. * Yes. Useful forms of energy.
38. 37. * Yes. Pollution caused in energy conversion.
39. 38. * No. Lots of solar energy available.
40. 39. * Yes. Can't turn much of it into useful energy.
41. 40. * Maybe. Fusion?
42. 41.
43. 42. h2. Is pollution a problem?
44. 43.
45. 44. * No. We aren't dying yet / very little of the planet damaged.
46. 45. * Yes. Ecosystem is chaotic and non-linear so who knows how close to collapse?
47. 46. * No. We can repair it.
48. 47. * Yes. Chaotic and non-linear means unlikely to be directly reversible.
49. 48. * No. We can replace it (or move planet)
50. 49. * Maybe. We can only manage to sustain a biosphere for a few months...