CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES IN SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE

Friday Afternoon Topics:  Sustainability Science

The group brainstormed questions they wanted to discuss, wrote them on slips of paper and put them in a box.  Moderator Nathan Coutsoubos, from UAF, grouped the questions.  People selected the cluster of questions they wished to discuss during two sessions of informal, round-table break-out conversations.  The questions served as guidelines only, and often discussions went in unanticipated directions. Conclusions of the discussions were presented to the entire group on summary slides.

A.  Resilience Theory – presentation and notes

1. How do we define resilient systems?  Persistence:  of what, to what?  Recovery?  Stage of development?
2. What does measuring / quantifying resilience imply for social-ecological systems?
3. Is resilience theory “an” / “the” appropriate conceptual framework for sustainability?
4. Resilience theory and social systems:  does “resilience” work?

B.  Sustainability:  Definitions and Conditions – presentation

1. What is sustainability and how is it different?  Is it a new paradigm?
2. How can there be “sustainability science” if “sustainability” is conceptually impossible to obtain?
3. Sustainability of what, for whom?
4. Non-human factors influencing sustainability (e.g., disease)?
5. Is sustainability a myth?
6. Does sustainability imply a dynamic or steady state?
7. Is sustainability compatible with natural selection?
8. Sustainable development:  compatible (or not) with the natural environment?  At what spatial and temporal scales?

C.  Sustainability Metrics – presentation

1. Metrics of sustainability:  what are they?  How do you get them?
2. What are some common indicators of sustainability that work across disciplines with different standards of evidence?
3. Validation of methods:  how to distinguish success from arm waving?
4. How do we identify if a system has enough flexibility?

D.  Simulations and Models  - presentation

1. What is the role of computers, simulations, and modeling in research?
2. Value of systems and modeling to sustainability science?
3. Use of quantitative, probabilistic models to inform decision-making?
4. How can sustainability make use of simulations and computational social tools?
5. Integration of ethnographic research and modeling of social-ecological systems?

E.  Sustainable Energy

[This discussion was cancelled]

1. Sustainable energy research.
2. Sustainable energy generation.

F.  Values and the Goals of Sustainability -- notes

1. Value systems and place:  does environment / biodiversity shape values?
2. Do we manage based on past or present conditions?  Maintain or restore ecosystems?  Just monitor instead?

G.  Cross-scale Linkages – presentation and notes

1. What does cross-scale research entail?  What does it mean?  How do we do it?
2. Decision-making across scales:  does change for individuals aggregate to regional and global change?  Modeling methods?

H.  Sustainable Cities – presentation and notes

1. Making cities sustainable and beautiful:  what would the ideal future look like?  Consider density of people, green / blue space, energy source, etc.
2. Urbanized ecosystems and the ecology of design.  Is there a synergy between the design process and the scientific method?
3. Urban water ecosystems:  riparian and marine.

I.  Policy, Politics, and Sustainability – presentation 1

1. Disconnects between policy and technology.
2. How to implement sustainability recommendations and policy in the developing world?
3. How to maintain ecological function and biodiversity while managing public and commercial use?
4. Policy, politics, and sustainability:  what role should local, state, and national governments have?

J.  Sustainability, Climate Change, and Uncertainty – presentation

1. How do we think about sustainability in the context of global climate change and uncertainty?

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