CH 2 Sustainable Discourse

The goal of Sustainable Communities is to ultimately improve the quality of life for all people with out jeopardizing the quality of life for future generations, while living within our ecosystem’s limits. In Chapter 2 Agyeman introduces theory and gives examples to show that just-sustainability is possible in real communities.
“Sustainability is at least as much about politics, injustice and inequity as it is about science or the environment.” This quote explains that sustainability encompasses way more than just the environmental factors.
The US policy on SD has changed direction during the Bush Administration. The Clinton approach focused primarily on a domestic quest for SD while the current SD policy has placed an emphasis on international changes through US aid. The new approach has left out the US domestic commitment and responsibility to SD. The new approach states that “countries that live by these broad standards, ruling justly, investing in their people, and encouraging economic freedom, will receive more aid from America” Instead of the US taking the lead to enact more sustainable practices domestically and becoming the example for other countries we have a “we have done enough” mentality and allowing us to continue our “limitless consumption” while directing our checkbooks towards changing other counties.
Policy Tools. By using policy tools like sustainability indicators, sustainability inventory, and environmental space we can set goals, create action steps and measure progress. Sustainability Indicators gauge the communities current conditions, target concerns, and measure progress. The indicators reflect the entire community’s sustainability concerns, both social and environmental factors. Sustainability Inventories give the community a holistic system approach. The inventories serve as a platform that requires collaboration from many local government sectors to set goals and develop action plans.
New Economics. The economic tool for measuring a nation’s wealth is GDP (Gross Domestic Product) which measures all goods and services produced within the countries borders. This indicator only measures the wealth of a country through paid activities or standards of life and not the quality of life. The GDP doesn’t account for wealth distribution, unpaid activities, or environmental factors such as pollution, decreasing natural resources, or loss of diverse ecosystems. The US may have the highest GDP but because it doesn’t adjust for environmental factors and quality of life GDP isn’t a good indicator of sustainability.