Sustainability

Our current economic system can be considered a “linear economy”, built on a model of extracting raw materials from nature, turning them into products, and then discarding them as waste.  Currently, only 7.2% of used materials are cycled back into our economies after use.  This has a significant burden on the environme ...

We need to change the way we think about climate change in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and meet the targets set out in the Paris Agreement. Energy efficiency and switching to renewable energy is only half the story. It is vital, but would only address 55% of global emissions. To reach net-zero, we a ...

In response to global challenges regarding resource scarcity and environmental concerns, the circular economy (CE) has emerged as a transformative model focused on resource efficiency and waste reduction.  As the discourse intensifies, understanding the skill requirements of CE becomes imperative for effective policy-m ...

The fact of dangerous anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is now accepted by all but an insignificant number of climatologists worldwide, by every major national and international scientific society, and by every major nonpartisan humanitarian and economic organization.  This chapter in the book The Truth About Denial: ...

According to the recent IPCC report, "Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change", if urgent action is not taken immediately, humanity won't limit warming to 1.5°C – the threshold for more devastating fires, drought, storms, and other anthropogenic environmental disasters.  At their presently rising levels, howe ...

Strategic litigation encourages corporate accountability for climate change and broader corporate accountability movements when governments have repeatedly failed to take steps to adequately combat climate change.  Climate lawsuits against companies are the result of increased collaboration between concerned individual ...

Circular economy (CE) is based on reduction, reuse and recycling, regardless of whether it is conceptualized as a 3R framework covering the 3R dimensions of reduction, reuse, recycling, as a 4R framework that considers the 4R dimensions of reduction, reuse, recycling, recovery, or as an x-R framework that includes 4R.  ...

Socioeconomic decision-making and policy changes are affected and realized through public awareness.  This calls for active engagement by the scientists and researchers with the public and the intended audience, which can drive or be driven by science and scientific research.  Scientists must engage decision-makers and ...

Governments commonly use deliberation as a part of the policy-making process, but it is usually conducted internally and behind closed doors, thereby excluding the public.  However, efforts to involve the public in the deliberative stage are quite rare and, for the most part, governments do not have a reliable methodol ...

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognize the importance of action locally for achieving socioeconomic sustainability globally.  Local communities must focus on a locally relevant subset of goals and understand potential future pathways for key drivers that influence local sustainability to contribute to natio ...

We are witnessing unprecedented climate change due to the rapidly increasing concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere.  Climate change is having severe consequences for communities that are designed for steady climatic conditions – not for the predicted climate extremes.  Data collected over the recent decades shows that ...

There is widespread concern that current trends in resource use are unsustainable.  The over-exploitation and depletion of nature and natural resources and the strong economic stratification of society into the rich elites and the poor commoners are evident in all historical societal collapses, either of which can inde ...

Circular economy (CE) as a framework to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has serious risks and various shortcomings.  Where CE and the SDGs are misaligned, there is a gap between products, the socioeconomic circumstances of the people who produce and use them, and the environment where the products are ...

The building and construction industry plays a critical role in achieving global sustainability, especially in tackling the global climate crisis.  The scope and breadth of sustainability encompassed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is an integral part of the business case for global real estate.  The SDG ...

The investment in sustainable development and climate actions is at the center of the SDG agenda and climate negotiations.  However, there are many obstacles to realizing the potential synergies between the SDGs and climate action.  The financing gap to achieve the global climate target of 1.5°C by 2030 set out in the ...