The document discusses the CONVERGE project which aims to develop the idea of convergence towards equity within planetary boundaries from societal, economic and ecological perspectives in relation to globalization. The project brings together researchers from universities in Iceland, Sweden, and the UK to test the CONVERGE framework through stakeholder workshops and case studies. The framework is being used to evaluate national, EU and international policies and whether they support or hinder convergence processes. The document outlines the principles of a converging society based on sustainability, equity and operating within ecological limits.
1. www
www.convergeproject.org
Rethinking globalisation in the light of Contraction
and CONVERGEnce
Vala Ragnarsdottir
Dean of Engineering and Natural Sciences
University of Iceland
2.
3. The CONVERGE team here today
• From the University of Iceland – in addition to me
– SigrúnMaríaKristinsdóttir
– Charlotte JónsdóttirBiering
• From the University of Lund, Sweden
– Harald Sverdrup
– DenizKoca
• From the Schumacher Institute, Bristol
– Ian Roderick
– Alice Marie Archer
– Emmelie Brownlee
– Julia
5. The aim of the CONVERGE project
• Develop the idea of CONVERGE with societal,
economic and ecological perspectives in
connection to globalisation
• Test CONVERGE as a framework for holistic
indicators
• Evaluate whether national, EU and international
policies and agreements are opposite or support
convergence processes and test the CONVERGE
framework with communities and stakeholders
6. Aims cont.
• Evaluate how different methods of community
engagement can work towards the development
of sustainable communities in the North and
South, and test the CONVERGE framework with
stakeholders
• Find convergence methodologies from case
studies
• Use interdisciplinary methodologies to evaluate
outcomes, and develop new understanding in
acrossdisciplinary framework
7. Aims cont.
• Recommend how CONVERGE can fit into the
inner and outer policies of the EU
• Distribute CONVERGE to different users
through a variety of media
8. Focus on food
• Communities tested
– Iceland (an island – 320,000 people)
– Bristol city (400,000 people)
– Villages in Tamil Nadu (SCAD)
– Communities where framework presented
• Lund, Sweden
• Gödöllö, Hungary
9. Stakeholder workshops
• 3 workshops with systems analysis inbetween
• One meeting where framework presented
• Systems dynamics model given to participants
10. Methodology to develop the
CONVERGE framework:
systems thinking
• The Natural Step
• The ISIS compass
• Systems analysis
– Systems dynamics
• Stakeholder workshops
11. How do we use the Earh´s resources and an equitable manner?
Sverdrup et al.
13. The Earth isshrinking
1900 1950 1987 2005 2030 2050
7.91 5.15 2.60 2.02 1.69 1.44
YEAR
Hectar of surface per person
Ecological footprint = the land we need to provide daily needs and take up the
waste. Now we are using 1.5 Earths per year.
14. Rockström et al. 2009
Climate change
Pollution
Ocean acidification
Atmospheric
Ozon in
areosols
stratosphere
Cycling of N
Biodiversity loss
Cycling of P
Land use
change Water use
Earth boundaries – we have surpassed 3 of 9
15. McDonalds
Tourists
Telephones
Urban Paper
Polulation GDP Dams Water population use
use
Car
transport
7 billion people
25. Humanneeds
Subsis- Partici-
Idleness
tence pation
Under-
Protection Affection
standing
Creation Identity Freedom
Manfred Max-Neef et al
26. Cycles of nature
Open system with
respect to energy
Closed system with
respect to matter
1) Nothing disappears
2) Everything disperses
« Photosynthesis
pays the bill »
Sustainability is
about the ability of
human society to
continue
indefinitely within
these natural
cycles
Slow geological cycles Slow geological cycles
(volcanoeruptions and (sedimentation and
weathering) mineralization)
27. How we influence cycles
Physicallyinhibitn
ature’sability to
run cycles
Barriers to
people meeting
their basic
needsworldwide
Introduce persistent
compounds foreign to
Large flows of nature
materials from the
Earth’s crust
28. TNS system conditions: In a sustainable society
We’ve eliminated our contribution to…
...the systematic increase in concentrations of substances
from the Earth’s crust,
...the systematic increase in concentrations
ofsubstances produced by society,
...the systematic increase of physical degradation and
destructions of natural systems,
...to conditions that systematically undermine people’s
capacity to meet their needs.
29. From vision to action plans
Creative
Solutions Future
Baseline
Prioritisation
30. Think out of the box
,,We cannot solve problems by using
the same way of thinking as we had
when we created them”
Albert Einstein
31.
32.
33. Sustainability is...
A set of conditions and trends
in a given system that can
continue indefinitely
AtKisson 2008
34. Sustainable development is...
A directed process of
continuous innovation and
systemic change
in the direction of sustainability
AtKisson 2008
35. Sustainablity compass– indicators
• N =Nature
Environment, resources, ecosystems,
climate, cultivation
• A = Economy
Production, consumption,
employment, energy, fertiliser
Nature
• S = Society Economy
Society
Government, culture, institutions, Well being
schools, common issues, education
for sustainability, nature protection
in constitution, voters
• V = Well being
Individual health, families,
education level, quality of life,
happiness, healthy food
AtKisson 2008
36. Steps towards sustainability
• Think long term
• Understand systems
• Know limits
• Protect nature
• Change commerce
• Show equity
• Support innovation
(AtKisson 2008)
37. Systems thinker
• Looks for the big picture
• Looks for the cycle that links cause and effect
• Sees how things change with time
• Looks for new angles
• Evaluates the effect of short term and long term
actions
• Finds unexpectedafleiðingar
AtKisson 2008
38. Soil + rock + oil = people
Ragnarsdottir og Sverdrup 2010
41. How much food can we produce in
cities?
Vision of Herbert Girardet
42.
43.
44.
45. Cuba – city cultivation
• Cuba went through
“peak oil” 20 years ago
- Learned Permaculture
– Up to 90% of vegetables
cultivated in cities and
towns
– Car parks, gardens, roofs,
pateos, balconies
– Peoples health has
improved
– Communities have
strengthened
46. Your brainstorming now
• An huge eruption has lasted for 3 months in
Iceland.
• All flights in the northern hemisphere are off.
• Oil is expensive and few ships arrive with food;
few trucks distribute food to supermarkets.
• The city of Bristol and nearby counties have a
joint emergency meeting and decide that all food
needs be produced in Bristol and its bioregion.
• The question is how?
47. Spaceship Bristol-bioregion
1. Imagine sustainable Bristol
1. How does it look like?
2. Where are we now? (baseline) – remember that
the baseline today is not the same as after a 3
month eruption in Iceland
3. Then find steps from the future to the present
(connect step 1 to step 2)
49. Dig for victory
Remember how the gardens were
changed from flower beds to
vegetable patches during the war!
Talk to your mothers/grandmothers!
50. Conventional fertilizer
• N:P:K in different proportions
• When phosphate mines empty and energy is
limited – what fertiliser will we use?
51. A few suggestions
• Close all cycles
• Waste from one process used as resource for
another
• Societal equity is prevalent
52. CONVERGE principles
• Convergence for sustainability is the progress towards human equity
within biological planetary boundaries.
• In a converging society, every global citizen has the right to a fair share
of the Earth’s bio-capacity and the opportunity for secured human
wellbeing.
• In a converging society, people have the opportunity to meet their basic
human needs.
• In a converging society, nature is systematically cared for, maintained
and restored.
• A converging society is aware of the fact that everything humans have
and use comes from nature. In a converging society, nature’s resource
inflow to society is recognized and the focus is on using resources in the
least harmful way possible.
• A converging society deals with its outflow (waste), using the four R’s as
a guideline – reduce, recycle, refuse and reuse. It is a circular society (as
opposed to a throw-away society) that has learned from nature.
53. Principles cont
• A converging society is aware of the fact that
everything humans have and use comes from
nature.
• In a converging society, nature’s resource inflow
to society is recognized and the focus is on using
resources in the least harmful way possible.
54. Principles cont.
• A converging society deals with its outflow
(waste), using the four R’s as a guideline –
reduce, recycle, refuse and reuse. It is a circular
society (as opposed to a throw-away society) that
has learned from nature.
Feel free to use this as well if you want toWe are in overshoot – living beyond our means.
We also know that the system is... ...a closed system to matter ...an open system to energy (from the sun, heat being let out into space) ...has some very slow geological cycles where materials are introduced to the biosphere slowly through volcanos, erosion... but taken out of the biosphere at abou the same (or more quickly) rate through sedimentation, etc natures cycles is also slowIn essence this means that sustainability menas that society exists within these cycles and that the cycles can go on indefinetely.
(Include here or not?)Here’s one example of the type of needs that we are referring to.
So, if we know all of these things about how the system works, then we can also tell how the system can be overloaded.You’ve done the e-learning, so you should be ableto help out. There are four things that are causing unsustainability, what are they?(Allow the audince to answer and then go through them one by one)----------------Note: I ahven’t checked the text below) ------------------------------ -So, how are we overloading the system?1. We are taking more out of the ground than is going back in – metals and minerals that are scare in nature that are toxifying the system. We are releasing billions of years of sequestered materials over a short period of time into the biosphere. Nature cannot tolerate this as these substances are either directly toxic to the living system or they alter the conditions needed to support life.And instead of redesigning society to come to grips with the problem, we try to ”fix” impact after impact amongst the ”leaves” as they surface – phosphates in lakes, carbondioxide in the atmosphere, sulphourus acid rain, cadmium in kidney’s…And myriads of unknown impacts are looming in the future from increasing concentrations of silver, zinc, platina…all approaching unknown ecotoxic thresholds for impacts.2. We are emitting more waste products than nature can process, with a systematic accumulation of both solid and gaseous waste. Instead of correcting the principle design error, we try to ”fix” problems from nitrogen oxides in the sea, CFC’s in the atmosphere, pesticides on cropland, and endocrine disruptorsin our foods. 3. We are physically inhibiting the ability of nature to run its cycles by clogging up the system with excess toxins and by reducing nature’s restorative capacity - more and more asphalt on fertile land, lower and lower ground water tables from irrigation, more and more encroachment on marine systems from overfishing, and loss of biodiversity from deforestation. 4. Finally, the Societal economy is so designed that it destroys the social tissue. We mostly take care of our families, friends, and colleagues but we don’t see the consequences of our actions in other parts of the world – perhaps from suppliers in the developing world. We often and unintentionally don’t allow them to meet their needs, and act as if we didn’t understand that this will – sooner or later – lead to serious consequences, also from a self-beneficial point of view and just like with the destruction of the ecosystems.
