1. Suggestions for Prayer, Study, and Action
PRAYER FOR GLOBAL SOLIDARITY AND SUSTAINABILITY
God our Creator, whose good earth is entrusted to our care and delight, we pray:
For all who are in captivity to debt, whose lives are cramped by fear,
For all who depend on the earth for their daily food and fuel,
For all who labour in poverty, who are oppressed by unjust laws, who long for a harvest of justice,
For all who are in captivity to greed and waste and boredom, whose harvest joy is choked with things they do not need.
Turn us again from our captivity and restore our vision, that our mouths may be filled with laughter and our tongues with singing.
Amen
The late Janet Morley – adapted by Christian Ecology Link
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BE INFORMED ABOUT THE RIO+20 AGREEMENT AND FOLLOW-UP
A preliminary analysis of the Rio+20 agreement is offered here. Below are links to some substantive reviews published after the end of the conference:
Summany of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (13-22 June 2012), ENB-IISD, 25 June 2012.
A first reading of The Future We Want, Jose Ignacio Garcia, EcoJesuit, 25 June 2012.
Rio+20: Tim Jackson on how fear led world leaders to betray green economy, Jo Confino, The Guardian, 25 June 2012.
Rio+20 - Red Cross Red Crescent Urges Investment in Resilience and Women, IFRCRCS, AllAfrica, 25 June 2012.
Rio+20: Who owns the 'Green Economy'?, Matthew Rimmer, SBS, 25 June 2012.
Women’s Major Group “Disappointed and Outraged” at the Rio+20 Outcomes, Seyyada Burney, Nourishing the Planet, 25 June 2012.
Rio+20: On the Same Planet, But Not the Same Page, Murray Griffin, Bloomberg News, 26 June 2012.
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This summary presents selected findings from the SD21 study reports.
Food and agriculture: the challenge of sustainability
Assessment of implementation of Agenda 21
Assessment of implementation of the Rio Principles
Challenges and ways forward in the urban sector
Building a sustainable and desirable Economy-in-Society-in-Nature
Perspectives on sustainable energy systems for the 21st century
Lessons learned from sustainable development scenarios
Sustainable land management for the 21st century
All the reports are accessible at here
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2. News, Publications, Tools, and Conferences
NEWS
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PUBLICATIONS
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TOOLS & DATABASES
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CONFERENCES & JOURNALS
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3. Advances in Sustainable Development
"The third and final meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), Pre-Conference Informal Consultations Facilitated by the Host Country, and the UNCSD convened back-to-back in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 13-22 June 2012. During their ten days in Rio, government delegations concluded the negotiations on the Rio outcome document, titled “The Future We Want.” Representatives from 191 UN member states and observers, including 79 Heads of State or Government, addressed the general debate, and approximately 44,000 badges were issued for official meetings, a Rio+20 Partnerships Forum, Sustainable Development Dialogues, SD-Learning and an estimated 500 side events in RioCentro, the venue for the Conference itself.
"In closing the Conference, UNCSD President Dilma Rousseff (Brazil) stressed that Rio+20 was the most participatory conference in history and was a “global expression of democracy.” Taking place in parallel to the official events, approximately 3,000 unofficial events were organized throughout Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Governments and the Rio Conventions organized Pavilions showcasing their experiences and best practices, and the Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development, a Global Town Hall, a People’s Summit, the World Congress on Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability and spontaneous street actions were just a few of the many events around the historic city of Rio de Janeiro, discussing the Rio+20 themes and the broader requirements for sustainable development implementation."
To keep reading this comprehensive summary report, click SUMMARY
For coverage on worlwide energy access issues, click ENERGY
For coverage on world justice, governance, and environmental law issues, click JUSTICE
For day by day coverage of the conference proceedings, click DAY BY DAY
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4. Advances in Integral Human Development
"This Report explores the integral links between environmental sustainability and equity and shows that these
are critical to expanding human freedoms for people today and in generations to come. The point of departure
is that the remarkable progress in human development over recent decades that the Human Development
Report has documented cannot continue without bold global steps to reduce environmental risks and
inequality. We identify pathways for people, communities, countries and the international community to
promote environmental sustainability and equity in mutually reinforcing ways.
"The cover diagram symbolizes how different policies can have different implications for sustainability and
equity. Whenever available, we should prefer solutions that are good for the environment while also promoting
equity and human development. Pursuing sustainability and equity jointly does not require that they be
mutually reinforcing. In many instances they will not be. Sometimes the most feasible alternative involves
trade-offs between sustainability and equity and requires explicit and careful consideration. No trade-off is
isolated from a society’s structural and institutional conditions, and so we must address the underlying
constraints and identify positive synergies between sustainability and equity. This Report is aimed not only at
finding positive synergies but also at identifying ways to build them."
On RIO+20 and integral human development:
- Time to rethink and regain control over the future of the human family, CIDSE, 5 June 2012.
- Position Paper of the Holy See for Rio+20, Rio de Janeiro, 13-15 June 2012.
- Going beyond GDP, UNDP proposes human development measure of sustainability, UNDP, 20 June 2012. For more information, contact Satinder Bindra or
William Orme.
- Rio+20: Measuring human and environmental progress, Stephen Lacey, Renew Economy, 21 June 2012.
- Migration and Sustainable Development, Rio+20 Issues Brief, UNCSD Secretariat, 22 June 2012.
- Zero Hunger Challenge, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 21 June 2012.
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5. Advances in Integrated Sustainable Development
The latest from James Gustave Speth:
The latest from Yale University:
Summer Symposium on Religion and Environmental Stewardship 5-7 June 2012.
Go to PDF with LARGE IMAGE
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GLOBAL GROWTH TRENDS
Source: Yale Religion & Ecology Forum
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RECENT UPDATES ON "LIMITS TO GROWTH"
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6. Sustainability Games, Databases, and Knowledgebases
7. Sustainable Development Measures and Indicators
2012 Environmental Performance Index (EPI)
Switzerland Ranks at Top of the 2012 EPI
and Latvia Takes #1 Spot in New Trend EPI Rankings
Ysella Yoder, Yale University, 26 January 2012
The
Summary for Policymakers provides a quick look at the EPI framework and methodology,
and summarizes the overall EPI and Pilot Trend EPI rankings, results, and conclusions.
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8. Sustainable Development Modeling and Simulation
The graph below is a simple simulation of world population, gross production/consumption, and energy availability trends:
As of EOY 2011, World Population = 7 Billion, World GDP = 61 Trillion PPP Dollars,
World Energy Use = 0.5 Zeta Joules (or approx 82 billion barrels of oil), and
Average Consumption per Capita = 9000 Dollars
The simulation tipping points would seem to approximate current trends. If the supply of usable energy from fossil fuels peaks and declines as shown by the green curve, how much energy would have to be generated from other sources to support the current GDP output? Even for the sake of social solidarity and ecological sustainability, would most people in the "developed" nations be able/willing to "survive" with $9000/year?
The past cannot be changed, and the future is unknown, but there is empirical evidence to the effect that:
1. Fossil fuel resources are high in energy content but are not infinite.
2. Fossil fuel emissions are environmentally detrimental and/or potentially unsafe.
3. Currently known clean energy alternatives offer relatively low energy content.
Given that fossil fuels are being depleted, pollution levels are damaging the environment, and clean energy alternatives may not provide enough energy to sustain industrial economies, is it wise to just continue doing "business as usual" and trusting that some earthshaking technological breakthrough will come to pass soon enough? Is it fair for people in the "developed" nations to keep indulging in energy consumption and waste while approx. one billion people must subsist on $2 per day or less?
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9. Fostering Sustainability in the International Community
The scale of the global sustainable development challenge is unprecedented. The fight against extreme poverty has made great progress under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but more than 1 billion people continue to live in extreme poverty. Inequality and social exclusion are widening within most countries. With the world at 7 billion people and current annual GDP of US$70 trillion, human impacts on the environment have already reached dangerous levels. As the world population is estimated to rise to 9 billion by 2050
and global GDP to more than US$200 trillion, the world urgently needs a framework for sustainable development that addresses the challenges of ending poverty, increasing social inclusion, and sustaining the planet.
Under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General, and in line with the recently launched High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) was announced on August 9, 2012 and will provide global, open and inclusive support to sustainable-development problem solving at local, national, and global scales. The SDSN will work together with United Nations agencies, other international organizations, and the multilateral funding institutions including the World Bank and regional development banks, to mobilize scientific and technical expertise to scale up the magnitude and quality of local, national and global problem solving, helping to identify solutions and highlighting best practices in the design of long-term development pathways.
The Sustainable Development Solutions Network: Mobilizing scientific and technical expertise for local, national, and global problem solving
Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, Special Advisor to UN Secretary-General on the MDGs, will direct the project with the core aim of creating an open, inclusive, and world-class global network of expertise and problem solving. The network will comprise mainly universities and scientific research institutes, but will also tap technical expertise within technology companies, science foundations and academies of sciences and engineering. Columbia University's Earth Institute will serve as the Secretariat for the Network.
The global network will accelerate joint learning and help to overcome the compartmentalization of technical and policy work by promoting integrated approaches to the interconnected economic, social, and environmental challenges confronting the world.
The network should therefore spawn a new kind of sustained problem solving, in which experts, leaders, and citizens in all parts of the world work together to identify, demonstrate, and implement the most promising paths to sustainable development.
PRESS RELEASE: View the full text of the press release
OPERATIONAL LAUNCH: The SDSN website will launch September 1, 2012.
POINT OF CONTACT: Erin Trowbridge, trowbridge@ei.columbia.edu
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Three highest priorities:
Aligning governance to the challenges of global sustainability
Transforming human capabilities for the 21st century
Ensuring food safety and food security for 9 billion people
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Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5)
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