Desired Result

What Is Sustainability?

“A way of living that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” stated the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development in 1983.

Sustainability means satisfying our lives both now and in the future by not using more natural resources than nature can regenerate.

Sustainability Principles

1) eliminate systematic increases in concentration of substances from the earth's crust in natural systems

2) eliminate systematic increases in concentrations of substances produced by society (i.e. compounds not found in nature) in natural systems

3) eliminate systematic physical degradation of nature through over-harvesting, introduction and other forms of modification (i.e. actions that prevent natural systems from performing the services upon which we depend)

4) eliminate the systematic undermining of people's capacity to meet their needs

Backcasting is a method of planning in which the future desired conditions are envisioned and steps are then defined to attain those conditions.

The fundamental question of backcasting asks: "if we want to attain a certain goal, what actions must be taken to get there?"

ABCD project

Purpose

In the future, you may be asked to facilitate a workshop or meeting to help an organization apply the backcasting from principles of sustainability approach in order to identify possible early moves towards sustainability. The purpose of this assignment is to practice on conducting an analysis using the ABCD process on an organization of interest, as well as gain experience working collaboratively.

Desired Result

A short, polished fifteen (15) minute presentation that applies the ABCD process to an organization of your choice. You should briefly explain your analysis by answering the following questions:

A - What organization are you analyzing? What is included in the scope of your study? What does the organization currently do? What function / service do they provide? What is the purpose of this organization and what is your vision of their role in a sustainable society? You want to continue to deliver that service in a sustainable way (i.e. without degrading ecological or social systems). This should be a principle-level vision, not a specific scenario.

В - Look at the current reality of that system (the operations of the organization that you are assessing) through the lens of the Sustainability Principles. In what ways does [insert the organization here] contribute to violations of the Principles of Sustainability? In what ways does [the organization] contribute to respecting the Principles of Sustainability (e.g. what is good)? This exercise helps you to look at how this organization contributes to the root causes of the sustainability challenge, so that the problems can be designed out of the system in an upstream way. Looking through the lens of the Sustainability Principles is a good way to ensure that you have caught all aspects of how the organization currently contributes to the global sustainability challenge.

С - What possible actions could be made to eliminate the organization's contributions to violations of the Principles of Sustainability, i.e. a brainstorm of actions. Please propose lots of creative ideas for the organization that you are analyzing. What are some steps that they could take, which would lead them closer to their vision, and towards becoming sustainable? Please list all of your ideas, whether or not they are realistic at this point. {Minimum of 14 listed ideas for actions}

D - Prioritize your brainstormed actions according to the 3 minimum prioritization questions. This may be shown in table format. Screen your ideas from the С step through the three prioritization questions.

1. Does this action reduce, and ultimately lead to the elimination of, the organization's contribution toviolations of the Principles of Sustainability? i.e. Is it moving in the right direction? i.e. towards the vision and constrained by the Sustainability Principles?

2. Is this action a flexible platform for future improvement?

3. Does this action provide sufficient return of investments?

After asking these questions, identify five (5) high priority actions (choose the best ideas to start with). Explain why you would start with these actions (based on your answers to the questions above). Summarize your answers to the prioritization questions for each of the actions that you choose.

In addition to your list of priority actions, present a general timeline showing when you will implement both your 5 high priority actions and other, longer-term actions.

ABCD process (main points)

A - What organization are you analyzing? What does the organization currently do? What is your vision of their role in a sustainable society?

В - Look at the current reality of that system through the lens of the Sustainability Principles. In what ways does the organization contribute to violations of the Principles of Sustainability? In what ways does it contribute to respecting the Principles of Sustainability?

С - What possible actions could be made to eliminate the organization's contributions to violations of the Principles of Sustainability? What are some steps that they could take, which would lead them closer to their vision, and towards becoming sustainable?

D- Prioritize your brainstormed actions according to the 3 minimum prioritization questions.

1. Does this action move us in the right direction?

2. Is this action a flexible platform for future improvement?

3. Does this action provide sufficient return of investments?

ABCD process (another variant)

A - A description of the organization, with a compelling vision for that organization in a sustainable future.

B - A description of your application of the Principles of Sustainability that identify organization's contributions to unsustainability

C - An innovative list of ideas - informed by both your vision and the sustainability challenges identified in the 'B' step.

D - A demonstrated application of the three prioritization questions in the D' step.

Considerations:

All group members must participate in the presentation and/or the question and answer session. Everyone must work in groups of four.

Evaluation:

The group is evaluated on both presentation content and presentation style.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-21