Building the Framework for Absolute Sustainability

22 Pages Posted: 17 Nov 2017

Date Written: November 30, 2017

Abstract

There is a truism in Engineering that requires that a problem cannot be solved until it has been adequately defined. Sustainability can be perceived as a Wicked Problem, which suggests that it has not been adequately defined. Perhaps Sustainability resists definition, but a more optimistic approach would be to try a different way to define it. In this paper, we advance a means of solving the Sustainability problem from first principals, in a manner that is intended to be universal, objective, sensitive, and repeatable. It is expected to be applicable for any scale of setting, in any culture, regardless of the resources, skills, and technology that is available. It is intended to rely on units of Sustainability, rather than indicators, with thresholds derived from the units themselves.

We would measure how long it takes people to meet their needs, how effectively people use their time to meet their needs (e.g. what time-weighted fraction of needs are met), and the consumption of resources and production of wastes, throughout the population of a community. From these measurements, we can determine the relationships between resource consumption and quality of life. From the relationships, decisions can be made to maximize quality of life of the community while minimizing negative ecological impacts, and achieve Global Sustainability at a community scale.

Keywords: Human Development, Technological Development, Absolute Sustainability, Time/Resource Curve, Needs

Suggested Citation

Nuttall, Douglas and Young, Jay, Building the Framework for Absolute Sustainability (November 30, 2017). OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development, Vol. 10, No. 11, pp. 11-32, 2017, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3072764

Douglas Nuttall (Contact Author)

Jp2g Consultants ( email )

1150 Morrison Drive
Suite 400
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada

Jay Young

Independent ( email )

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