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SUSTAINABILITY: ECOLOGICAL, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, TECHNOLOGICAL, AND SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVES
Citation:
Cabezas*, H C., C. W. Pawlowski**, A Mayer**, AND N. T. Hoagland*. SUSTAINABILITY: ECOLOGICAL, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, TECHNOLOGICAL, AND SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVES. Presented at NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Technological Choices for Sustainability, Maribor, SLOVENIA, October 13 - 17, 2002.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
Sustainability is generally associated with a definition by the World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987: "Development that meets the needs and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability to meet those of the future". However, a mathematical theory embodying these concepts would be immensely valuable in humanity's efforts to manage the environment. Further, the concept of sustainability applies to integrated systems comprising humans and the rest of nature, and the structures and operation of the human component (society, economy, law, etc.) must be such that they reinforce the persistence of the structures and operation of the natural component (ecosystem trophic linkages, biodiversity, biogeochemical cycles, etc.). One of the challenges of sustainability research lies in linking measures of ecosystem functioning to the structure and operation of the associated social system. We review the nature of this complex system including its ecological, social, economic, and technological aspects, and propose indicators based on Information Theory that bridge the natural and human system elements. These principles are then illustrated using a model system with an ecological food web linked to a rudimentary social system. This work is part of a larger multidisciplinary group at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Risk Management Research Laboratory.