National Academies Press: OpenBook

Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages (2013)

Chapter: 1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems

« Previous: Summary
Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×

Chapter 1

The Challenge of Managing
Connected Systems

C. S. Lewis wrote, “Everything connects with everything else, but not all things are connected by the short and straight roads we expected” (Lewis, 1947). Those who hope to meet the challenges of providing sufficient fresh water, food, energy, housing, health, and education to the world’s 9 billion people while maintaining ecosystems and biodiversity for future generations know Lewis was correct on both counts.

WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY?

A “sustainable society,” according to one definition, “is one that can persist over generations; one that is far-seeing enough, flexible enough, and wise enough not to undermine either its physical or its social system of support” (Meadows et al., 1992). This definition is consistent with the intent of the statement in the National Environmental Protection Act of 1969 (NEPA): “To create and maintain conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony and that permit fulfilling social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations.” Sustainability issues occur at all scales from the global, such as the challenge of meeting the needs of a potential global population of 9 billion, to the national scale, to the regional and local scales.

Among many other disciplines, science plays a key role in advancing sustainability. Key features of the emerging field of sustainability science, launched just after the turn of the current century (Kates et al., 2001), include that it is problem driven; focuses on dynamic interactions between nature and society; and requires an integrated understanding of complex problems, necessitating a transdisciplinary, systems-based approach (see Box 1-1 for more information about important elements of the approach to sustainability).

A central goal of sustainability, although one often overlooked in this context, is to maintain and enhance human well-being. Human well-being is a mul-

Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×

tidimensional concept that includes physical and mental health across the lifespan, from prenatal development to old age. It also includes happiness, a more elusive state of being that has been increasingly studied and quantified in recent years. Issues of equity and security are other important dimensions of well-being, and range from safe neighborhoods to secure employment to the ability to pay for food and utilities to peace and security at the national level. Finally, well-being extends across generations; people who know that their children and grandchildren will have the opportunity for good lives enjoy an added measure of well-being. Government plays an important role in creating a sense of well-being; well-being is enhanced when society believes government is functioning in an efficient and effective manner.

A common and useful way of thinking about sustainability is to refer to the three overlapping domains of sustainability. Each domain—environment, social, economic—contributes essential components to sustain human wellbeing (Figure 1-1).

BOX 1-1
The Sustainability Approach

Key features of the sustainability approach include: its “problem-driven” quality, an orientation toward generating and applying knowledge that supports decision making for sustainability; its focus on dynamic interactions between nature and society, using the framework of complex socioeconomic-ecological (also called human-environment) systems (Gunderson and Holling, 2002); its goal of an integrated understanding of complex problems, requiring trans-disciplinary, systems-based approaches; its spanning the range of spatial scales from global to local; and its commitment to the “coproduction” of knowledge by researchers and practitioners (Clark and Dickson, 2003; Kauffman, 2009).

The systems approach is both formidable and necessary, in science as in policy making. Human–environment systems are complex, nonlinear, heterogeneous, spatially nested, and hierarchically structured (Wu and David, 2002). Feedback loops operate, multiple stable states typically exist, and surprises are inevitable (Kates and Clark, 1996). Change has multiple causes, can follow multiple pathways leading to multiple outcomes (Levin, 1998), and depends on historical context (Allen and Sanglier, 1979; McDonnell and Pickett, 1990). One important attribute of systems is their resilience, the system’s ability to maintain structure and function in the face of perturbation and change. A second key attribute is the system’s level of vulnerability: its exposure to hazards (perturbations and stresses) and its sensitivity and resilience when experiencing such hazards (Turner et al., 2003).

The systems approach to science is ideally suited to supporting sustainable management, both in advancing fundamental scientific understanding and in informing real-world decisions. It underlines the importance of linkages among various players at different scales, such as government agencies, private firms, citizen groups, and others.

Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×

image

Figure 1-1 The components or domains of sustainability that support human wellbeing. SOURCE: National Research Council, 2011. Adapted from Figure 3-3, Hecht, 2010.

A healthy natural environment, though not the only component of sustainability, is an essential one; clean air, abundant and clean fresh water, biodiversity of plants, fish, and wildlife, and robust, highly-functioning ecosystems are all desired aspects of a healthy environment. In addition to maintaining a healthy environment, a sustainable society also provides systems to support other important societal values, including strong systems for preventive care and health care, public safety, transportation, energy, education, and housing. Societies also need strong economies in order to flourish.

All of these components interact with and depend upon one another. Social cohesion and effective legal systems are needed for economies to function efficiently; for example, a healthy and robust social fabric helps to ensure the health and well-being of people. Economic and social systems all interact with the environment, through natural resource services and extraction, food production, water systems, and natural biodiversity.

An approach to sustainability that includes human well-being provides a unifying framework for evaluating sustainability efforts. Moreover, this approach has intuitive appeal to policy makers and members of the public, who value human well-being in assessing environmental, economic, and social tradeoffs.

Sustainability creates greater value, minimizes unintended consequences and ultimately improves the efficiency of government activities (see Box 1-2 and Box 1-3 for examples of federal agencies whose sustainability efforts have resulted in efficient use of resources and cost savings). Promoting sustainability reduces costs over the long term, which supports the economy and quality of life. The private sector has also embraced sustainability as a cost-effective organizing principle (see Box 1-4).

Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×

BOX 1-2
Sustainability at National Aeronautics and
Space Administration Facilities

National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA's) sustainability policy is to execute the agency’s mission “without compromising our planet’s resources so that future generations can meet their needs. Sustainability involves taking action now to enable a future where the environment and living conditions are protected and enhanced. In implementing sustainability practices, NASA manages risks to mission, risks to the environment, and risks to our communities, all optimized within existing resources” (NASA, 2012). Some select sustainability objectives include: increasing energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy; measuring, reporting, and reducing direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions; conserving and protecting water resources; eliminating waste, preventing pollution, and increasing recycling; and designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating high-performance sustainable buildings, among others (NASA, 2012).

Regarding the objective to design, construct, and maintain sustainable buildings, the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has undertaken several such initiatives for its facilities, including those related to solar energy, waste diversion, and environmental remediation, which have resulted in efficient use of resources and significant cost savings. For example, KSC leased land to Florida Power & Light (FPL) in 2008 to build a 10-megawatt photovoltaic (PV) system for electricity generation. For use of the land, FPL provided KSC with a 1-megawatt PV system. This was cited as an innovative partnership that “helped the federal government and FPL electricity consumers achieve the environmental benefits of using electricity generated from renewable sources, and also helped NASA reduce energy costs that consume mission resources.” With these innovations, the KSC facility is estimated to produce almost 1,800 megawatt-hours annually, saving the agency $162,221 in 2010. FPL’s facility will produce nearly 19,000 megawatt-hours. The two systems will produce more than 560,000 megawatt-hours of electricity, saving KSC about $10.7 million during its expected 30-year life (NASA, 2011).

KSC achieved a solid waste diversion rate of 56.21 percent in 2010 by recycling and reusing construction and office material, which has saved the agency money. For example, the Coastal Revetment Project at KSC used recycled materials to replace an old decaying system with a new sustainable one. The 2.2-mile project incorporated 23,000 tons of concrete originating from demolished facilities, which saved about $3 million in project material costs. Additionally, the Environmental Remediation Program at the KSC embraced elements of sustainable green remediation into projects, primarily through the alternative power and bioremediation. For example, the agency successfully decontaminated groundwater at nine Kennedy sites. “At the GSA Seized Property Yard, bioremediation saved an estimated $400,000 compared to a traditional pump-and-treat system” (NASA, 2011).

RESOURCE CONNECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE LINKAGES

Concerns about Earth’s sustainability in a form desirable to human habitation and quality of life traditionally rest on potential constraints to individual

Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×

BOX 1-3
Sustainability and the Department of Defense

The mission of the Department of Defense (DOD) is “to provide the military forces needed to deter war and protect the security of our country” (DOD, 2011). To successfully execute this mission, the military must have access to the energy, land, air, and water resources necessary to train and operate. According to DOD, “sustainability provides the framework necessary to ensure the longevity of these resources, by attending to energy, environmental, safety, and occupational health considerations” (DOD, 2011). Incorporating sustainability into DOD planning and decision making enables the agency to address current and emerging mission needs.

Within DOD, the Department of Army is responsible for achieving sustainability goals, including those related to renewable energy, in a fiscally prudent manner. The Army also serves as a test bed for developing and introducing new technologies for addressing sustainability challenges (Kidd, 2011). For example, the Army is leveraging available private-sector investment, including using power purchase agreements; enhanced-use leases; energy savings performance contracts; and utilities energy service contracts as tools to meet its objectives (Department of the Army, 2010). Regarding sustainable energy initiatives, the Army is pursuing initiatives such as utilizing waste energy or re-purposed energy using exhaust from boiler stack, building, or other thermal energy (Department of the Army, 2010).

In addition, to support renewable energy goals, the secretary of the Army established the Energy Initiatives Task Force (EITF) on August 10, 2011, with the mission to “identify, prioritize and support the development and implementation of large-scale, renewable and alternative energy projects”—focusing on attracting private investments and delivering the best value to the Army enterprise (Kidd, 2011). EITF serves as the central managing office for the development of large-scale Army renewable energy projects.

EITF is part of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment (ASAIEE) that establishes “policy, provides strategic direction and supervises all matters pertaining to infrastructure, Army installations and contingency bases, energy, and environmental programs to enable global Army Operations” (ASAIEE, 2012). In order to respond to federal laws and energy directives/strategies of DOD, the Army needs to coordinate energy goals with environmental and sustainability goals. “An enterprise-wide approach is necessary because cost-effective management of energy requires coordinated efforts across the Army” and the optimization of limited resources to ensure success (Army Senior Energy Council, 2009).

natural resources. Rising prices resulting from resource scarcities generally have been shown to motivate technological innovations and substitutions that constrain the likelihood of ‘running out’ of resources (Krautkraemer, 2005). However, the continued presence of externalities associated with the extraction and use of natural resources suggests that their management to achieve a blend of economic, environmental, and socially sustainable outcomes will not result solely

Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×

BOX 1-4
BASF: Integrating Sustainability into Business Practices
A Private Sector Example

BASF, a global chemical company, has embraced sustainability as an organizing principle, stating that it has “strategically embedded sustainability” into the company as “a significant driver for growth” (BASF, 2013a). BASF defines sustainability as “balancing economic success with social and environmental responsibility, both today and in the future” (BASF, 2012; BASF, 2013a). The company has integrated sustainability into its core processes, including into the development and implementation of business units’ strategies and research projects. It has also incorporated sustainability criteria into auditing processes for investment decisions (BASF, 2012).

Sustainability issues are identified by the company using material analysis; top priority issues include energy and climate, water, renewable resources, product stewardship, human capital development, human and labor rights, and biodiversity (BASF, 2012). The company states that sustainability management involves “taking advantage of business opportunities, minimizing risks and establishing strong relationships with our stakeholders” (BASF, 2012).

As a result, BASF reported that in 2012, the company reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 31.7 percent per metric ton of sales product and increased its energy efficiency by 19.3 percent compared with baseline 2002. Similarly, in 2012, the total emissions of air pollutants from the chemical plants into the atmosphere dropped by 63.1 percent to 31.580 metric tons (BASF, 2013b).

from commodity price signals (Krautkraemer, 2005; Tietenberg, 2005). It is obvious that these constraints are real and, in many cases, problematic. Here are several examples:

Constraints on traditional energy supplies1 and challenges related to climate will require a transition to a broader mix of fuels over the next several decades, consistent with reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts (NRC, 2009; Chu and Majumdar, 2012). While market signals drive innovations in energy technologies and can influence the search for energy substitutes, the continued presence of externalities and impacts on environmental goods such as biodiversity, air quality, and so on, associated with energy generation and use suggest the need for a decision framework and policies that incorporate and integrate these multiple considerations. Major efforts will be required because the required changes are so huge.

Global demand for nonrenewable resources such as metals is rising rapidly, mainly in developing economies. Concomitantly, the use of progressively poorer ore grades will become a real problem in the future as demand and pro-

_______________

1For example, there are geographical, geological, economic, legal, and environmental constraints on the future use of coal. The National Research Council’s report America’s Energy Future provides excellent reviews of these topics.

Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×

duction increase, requiring ever more energy and water to enable ore processing (MacLean et al., 2010). The rise in demand for certain rare earths also implies that for the foreseeable future, recycling will not provide an important supplementary resource for these minerals. While increasing scarcities will likely drive up prices and stimulate development of substitutions, accessing traditional, poorer grade, or new metals all involve impacts to lands, potentially impact wildlife, and can affect other environmental amenities.

Population growth and improving quality of life are expected to place increased pressure on productive land, risking the loss of important ecosystems and their beneficial functions.

In addition, substantial growth is expected in global freshwater use. Consequently, the quality and quantity of available freshwater per capita will decrease in certain localities in the absence of significant changes in water management and use patterns.

Other constraints deserve consideration, especially those resulting from limitations involving connections among the resources. Although resource sustainability is a problem generally approached in a piecemeal fashion, it is a systems problem, and the links that connect the resources are often more challenging to address than those of the individual resources themselves. It may help to picture the challenge of sustainability as shown in Figure 1-2, where key resource domains, including water, land, energy and non-renewable resources, are shown as squares, and areas that require these resources (industry, agriculture, nature, and domestic) are depicted as ovals. Human health and well-being interacts with all of these. It is common that scientists and decision makers specialize in one of these topics and are relatively unaware of the important constraints that may occur as a result of inherent connections with other topics. A near-complete linkage exists among all of these areas, yet tradition and specialization encourage a focus on a selected oval and all of the squares or to a selected square and all of the ovals (Graedel and van der Voet, 2010). Graedel and van der Voet (2010) pose the question: Can we devise an approach that addresses them all as a system, to provide the basis for constructing a coherent package of actions that optimize the system, not the system’s parts?

CONNECTIONS: THE SCIENTIFIC CHALLENGE
OF UNDERSTANDING SYSTEMS

In modern society, the interrelatedness of the natural and human worlds is even more complex. The systems that must be considered in addressing sustainability challenges are referred to in this report as social-ecological systems.2 These complex systems include the natural resource domains (air, fresh water,

_______________

2The term social-ecological systems is an increasingly used research framework. Ostrom E. 2009. A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social-ecological systems. Science 325(5939):419-422.

Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×

coastal oceans, land, forests, soil, etc), built environments (urban infrastructure such as drinking water and wastewater systems, transportation systems, energy systems), and the social aspects of complex human systems (such as public health, economic prosperity, and the like).

These elements of social-ecological systems are all interconnected, and the sustainability challenges that the nation faces rarely involve only one of them. Furthermore, the impacts of indirect connections to supply chains for manufactured and agricultural goods, or the connection to externalities such as the costs of the loss of ecosystem services, might also need to be factored in when addressing sustainability challenges.

Some connections are obvious. A coal-fired power plant provides electricity, which provides social, economic, and health benefits, but it also expends a nonrenewable resource, uses water to provide steam, emits products of combustion into the air, and generates solid waste. Some connections are less obvious. Battery-powered vehicles have no direct emissions to the atmosphere at the time of use, an apparent advantage over internal combustion vehicles. However, generating the electricity to charge the battery has impacts that may occur far away from where the vehicle is used. Also, disposal of battery can increase emissions due to energy consumed in recovering and recycling the materials.

image

FIGURE 1-2 The links among the needs for and limits of sustainability. SOURCE: Graedel, T. E., and E. van der Voet, 2010, adapted from Figure 1.2 The links among the needs for and limits of sustainability. Reprinted with permission from the MIT Press.

Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×

Some connections become apparent only over time. Use of persistent pesticides in the production of crops in the 1950s was effective; however, some of the pesticides were eventually found to persist, bioaccumulate, and have long-term effects on higher species only after some period of use. Similarly, studies have indicated that exposure to endocrine disruptors during critical periods of development can cause delayed effects that do not become evident until later in life (European Commission, 2011). We call these types of situations temporal connections.

Connections that are indirect can nonetheless be highly significant. Demand for ethanol in the United States caused the price of corn to rise and caused a shift in land use from soybean production to corn production. To fill the void, land was deforested in other countries and planted in soybeans. This is an example of a spatial connection. Other connections occur when multiple demands for the same resources are influenced through economic markets.

Consider the example of the sustainability challenge of growing sufficient food while also developing renewable energy from biofuels—the so-called food vs. fuel debate. The connections that must be considered include (1) the amount and type of land used to grow crops for food and that used to grow biofuels; (2) water use for crops as well as for biofuel production, transportation infrastructure use and costs for transporting both; (3) the relative impact of greenhouse gas emissions (including the emissions from indirect aspects of the system, such as emissions associated with growing and transporting the crops and producing the food and biofuels, as well as emissions from end use of the crops and fuels); (4) impacts on energy consumption to produce the food and fuel (again including indirect aspects); (5) the impacts on food cost and its availability to all economic classes of the U.S. public; (6) the impact on local economies as well as the export and import of food and fuel; and (7) limited time offer government subsidies and longer term sustainable farming practices, such as crop rotation.

The examples that the committee studied all reflected the interconnections among social-ecological systems. In Philadelphia, for instance, the effort to manage stormwater more sustainably by investing in green infrastructure3 rather than storm sewers is not just a water issue; it has impacts on air quality (through green plantings), energy consumption (water infrastructure), community wellbeing (through the creation of rain gardens), and neighborhood violence (through the greening of abandoned and overgrown lots). These connections are explained in more detail in Chapter 3.

The Mojave Desert, discussed as another example, is used for recreation, housing, and military training and is a premium location for renewable energy development, as it has some of the highest-quality solar and wind resources in the nation. It is also home to mining, agriculture, and human communities, as well as unique ecosystems and a number of endangered species. The competition between human-centric land uses and the desire to preserve species habitat

_______________

3Green infrastructure refers to the management of stormwater runoff through the use of natural systems.

Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×

and manage on an ecosystemwide basis has increased the need for coordinated land management in the Mojave Desert. The interconnections in the Mojave Desert example were evident in conflicts over competing land uses. One cannot successfully address sustainability issues in a specific social-ecological system without first identifying the relevant connections.

LINKAGES: THE GOVERNANCE CHALLENGE
OF MANAGING CONNECTED SYSTEMS

While addressing connections across natural and human system domains may be challenging, successful governance requires it. Ignoring connections raises the risk of policy actions that result in unintended consequences and ineffective and inefficient outcomes. For example, pursuit of policies to augment use of lands for biofuels production will have impacts on water use, food production, and wildlife. Unless these connections are assessed, policies and investments to promote biofuels could have unintended impacts on food commodity prices and water availability (Tilman et al., 2009). On the other hand, sustainability approaches that optimize a bundle of benefits could help meet energy needs while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions, sustaining biodiversity, and enhancing food security. Sustainable management of connected systems calls for governance that effectively links across domains, as well as across geographic and temporal scales.

The strong organizational linkages needed to support sustainability approaches can be extraordinarily difficult to implement. Political realities sometimes run counter to scientific and technical currents. As political scientist Eugene Bardach (1998) wrote, “Political and institutional pressures on public sector agencies in general push for differentiation rather than integration, and the basis for differentiation is typically political rather than technical.” These challenges are the subject of Chapter 2, and possible solutions are examined in Chapter 5.

REFERENCES

Allen, P. M., and M. Sanglier. 1979. Dynamic-model of growth in a central place system. Geographical Analysis 11:256.

Army Senior Energy Council and the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Energy and Partnerships. 2009. Army Energy Security Implementation Strategy. Washington, DC: U.S. Army.

Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment. 2012. Online. Available at http://www.army.mil/ASAIEE. Accessed February 28, 2013.

Bardach, E. 1998. Getting Agencies to Work Together: The Practice and Theory of Managerial Craftsmanship. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.

BASF. 2012. BASF Report: Economic, Environmental, and Social Performance. Online. Available at http://www.basf.com/group/corporate/en/function/conversions:/publishdownload/content/about-basf/facts-reports/reports/2012/BASF_Report_2012.pdf.

Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×

Accessed March 11, 2013.

BASF. 2013a. Sustainability. Online. Available at http://report.basf.com/2012/en/managementsanalysis/sustainability.html. Accessed March 11, 2013.

BASF. 2013b. BASF with positive results in goals for environment, health and safety. Online. Available at http://www.basf.com/group/pressrelease/P-13-157. Accessed March 11, 2013.

CERES (Coalition of Environmentally Responsible Economies). 1989. The Ceres Principles. Online. Available at http://www.ceres.org/about-us/our-history/ceres-principles. Accessed October 1, 2012.

Chu, S. and A. Majumdar. 2012. Opportunities and challenges for a sustainable energy future. Nature 488:294-303.

Clark, W. C., and N. M. Dickson. 2003. Sustainability science: The emerging research program. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 100(14):8059-8061.

Department of the Army. 2010. Army Vision for Net Zero. Office of the Assistant Secretary for the Army. February 17, 2010.

Department of the Army. 2012. Energy Goal Attainment Responsibility Policy for Installations. Online. Available at http://www.asaie.army.mil/Public/Partnerships/EnergySecurity/docs/ASAIEE_energy_goal_attainment_policy_24_Aug_2012.pdf. Accessed February 28, 2013.

DOD (U.S. Department of Defense). 2011. Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan. Online. Available at http://www.denix.osd.mil/sustainability/upload/dod-sspp-fy11-final_oct11.pdf. Accessed March 26, 2013.

Ecologically Sustainable Development Steering Committee Endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments. 1992. National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development. Online. Available at http://www.environment.gov.au/about/esd/publications/strategy/intro.html. Accessed September 28, 2012.

Environment Canada. 2010. Planning for a Sustainable Future: A Federal Sustainable Development Strategy for Canada, Consultation Paper. Gatineau, Quebec: Federal Sustainable Development Office.

EC (European Commission). 2011. State of the Art Assessment of Endocrine Disruptors. Final Report. Project Contract Number 070307/2009. Online. Available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/endocrine/documents/4_SOTA%20EDC%20Final%20Report%20V3%206%20Feb%2012.pdf. Accessed February 19, 2013.

Fiksel, J. 2006. Sustainability and resilience: Toward a systems approach. Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy 2(2).

Graedel, T. E., and E. van der Voet. 2010. Linkages of sustainability: An introduction. Pp. 1-10 in Linkages of Sustainability, T. E. Graedel and E. van der Voet, eds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Gunderson, L., and C. S. Holling. 2002. Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems. Washington, DC: Island Press.

ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability USA. 2010. STAR Community Index: Sustainability Goals and Guiding Principles. Online. Available at http://www.icleiusa.org/library/documents/STAR_Sustainability_Goals.pdf. Accessed October 1, 2012.

Kates, R., and W. Clark. 1996. Expecting the unexpected? Environment 38:6.

Kates, R., W. Clark, R. Corell, J. Hall, C. Jaeger, I. Lowe, J. McCarthy, H-J. Schellnhuber, B. Bolin, N. Dickson, S. Faucheux, G. Gallopin, A. Grubler, B. Huntley, J. Jager, N. Jodha, R. Kasperson, A. Mabogunje, P. Matson, and H. Mooney. 2001. Sustainability science. Science 292(5517):641-642.

Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×

Kauffmann, J. 2009. Advancing sustainability science: report on the International Conference on Sustainability Science (ICSS) 2009. Sustainability Science 4(2):233-242.

Kidd, R. G. IV. 2011. Department of Defense Perspective on Sustainability Linkages. Presentation to the National Research Council’s Committee on Sustainability Linkages in the Federal Government, First Meeting. September 20, 2011.

Krautkraemer, J. A. 2005. Economics of Resource Scarcity: The State of the Debate. Discussion Paper, April 2005. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.

Leggett, J. A., and N. T. Carter. 2012. Rio+20: The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, June 2012. Congressional Research Service 7-5700.

Levin, S. A. 1998. Ecosystems and the biosphere as complex adaptive systems. Ecosystems 1:431-436.

Lewis, C. S. 1947. Miracles: A Preliminary Study. 1st Ed. London: Geoffrey Bles.

McDonnell, M. J., and S. T. A. Pickett. 1990. The study of ecosystem structure and function along urban-rural gradients: an unexploited opportunity for ecology. Ecology 71:1231-1237.

MacLean, H. L., F. Duchin, C. Hagelüken, K. Halada, S. E. Kesler, Y. Moriguchi, D. Mueller, T. E. Norgate, M. A. Reuter, and E. van der Voet. 2010. Stocks, Flows, and Prospects of Mineral Resources. Pp. 199-218 in Linkages of Sustainability. T. E. Graedel and E. van der Voet, eds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Meadows, D. H., D. L. Meadows, and J. Randers. 1992. Beyond the Limits. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). 2011. Kennedy Space Center’s Sustainability Initiatives. Online. Available at http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/pdf/566523main_sustainability-initiatives.pdf. Accessed February 28, 2013.

NASA. 2012. Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan. Online. Available at http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/724131main_NASA_SSPP%202012%20abridged.pdf. Accessed February 28, 2013.

NEPA (National Environmental Protection Act of 1969). 2000. Online. Available at http://epw.senate.gov/nepa69.pdf. Accessed September 28, 2012.

NRC (National Research Council). 2009. America’s Energy Future: Technology and Transformation. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

NRC. 2011. Sustainability and the U.S. EPA. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

NRC. 2012. Ecosystem Services: Charting a Path to Sustainability. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). 2007. OECD Sustainable Development Studies: Institutionalising Sustainable Development. Paris, France: OECD.

OECD. 2009. Declaration on Green Growth (Adopted at the Council Meeting at Ministerial level on June 25, 2009). Online. Available at http://search.oecd.org/officialdocuments/displaydocumentpdf/?doclanguage=en&cote=C/MIN(2009)5/ADD1/FINAL. Accessed August 30, 2012.

OECD. 2011. Towards Green Growth: Green Growth Strategy Synthesis Report. Online. Available at http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=C/MIN(2011)4&docLanguage=En. Accessed August 30, 2012.

Ostrom, E. 2009. A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social-ecological systems. Science 325(5939):419-422.

Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. 2012. Seeking Sustainability. POST-note 408.

Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×

PCAST (President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology). 2011. Sustaining Environmental Capital: Protecting Society and the Economy. Washington, DC: Executive Office of the President.

Southern Growth Policies Board. Landfill Gas Project. Online. Available at http://www.southernideabank.org/items.php?id=2601. Accessed October 30, 2012.

Skaggs, R., K. Hibbard, P. Frumhoff, T. Lowry, R. Middleton, R. Pate, V. Tidwell, J. Arnold, K. Averyt, A. Janetos, C. Izaurralde, J. Rice, and S. Rose. 2012. Climate and Energy-Water-Land System Interactions: Technical Report to the U.S. Department of Energy in Support of the National Climate Assessment. Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The White House. 2000. Executive Order 13148 of April 21, 2000. Greening the Government Through Leadership in Environmental Management. Federal Register 65(81):24595-24606.

The White House. 2007. Executive Order 13423 of January 24, 2007. Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management. Federal Register 72(17):3919-3923.

The White House. 2009. Executive Order 13514 of October 5, 2009. Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance. Federal Register 74(194): 52117-52127.

Tietenberg, T. 2005. Environmental and Natural Resources Economics. 7th ed. Boston, MA: Addison Wesley Longman.

Tilman, D., R. Socolow, J. A. Foley, J. Hill, E. Larson, L. Lynd, S. Pacala, J. Reilly, T. Searchinger, C. Somerville, R. Williams. 2009. Beneficial Biofuels—The Food, Energy, and Environment Dilemma. Science 325:270-271.

Turner, B. L., R. E. Kasperson, P. A. Matson, J. J. McCarthy, R. W. Corell, L. Christensen, N. Eckley, J. X. Kasperson, A. Luers, M. L. Martello, C. Polsky, A. Pulsipher, and A. Schiller. 2003. A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 100:8074-8079.

UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. 2005. Securing the future: delivering UK sustainable development strategy. Online. Available at http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/files/pb10589-securing-the-future-050307.pdf. Accessed October 1, 2012.

UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme). 2002. Melbourne Principles for Sustainable Cities. Online. Available at http://www.iclei.org/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/ANZ/WhatWeDo/TBL/Melbourne_Principles.pdf. Accessed October 1, 2012.

World Commission on Environment and Development. 1987. Our Common Future (The Brundtland Report). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wu, J., and J. L. David. 2002. A spatially explicit hierarchical approach to modeling complex ecological systems: theory and applications. Ecological Modeling 153:7-26.

Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×
Page 13
Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×
Page 14
Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×
Page 15
Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×
Page 16
Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×
Page 17
Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×
Page 18
Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×
Page 19
Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×
Page 20
Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×
Page 21
Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×
Page 22
Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×
Page 23
Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×
Page 24
Suggested Citation:"1 The Challenge of Managing Connected Systems." National Research Council. 2013. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13471.
×
Page 25
Next: 2 The Impediments to Successful Government Linkages »
Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connections and Governance Linkages Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $46.00 Buy Ebook | $36.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

A "sustainable society," according to one definition, "is one that can persist over generations; one that is far-seeing enough, flexible enough, and wise enough not to undermine either its physical or its social system of support." As the government sector works hard to ensure sufficient fresh water, food, energy, housing, health, and education for the nation without limiting resources for the future generations, it's clear that there is no sufficient organization to deal with sustainability issues. Each federal agency appears to have a single mandate or a single area of expertise making it difficult to tackle issues such as managing the ecosystem. Key resource domains, which include water, land, energy, and nonrenewable resources, for example, are nearly-completely connected yet different agencies exist to address only one aspect of these domains.

The legendary ecologist John Muir wrote in 1911 that "when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." Thus, in order for the nation to be successful in sustaining its resources, "linkages" will need to be built among federal, state, and local governments; nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); and the private sector. The National Research Council (NRC) was asked by several federal agencies, foundations, and the private sector to provide guidance to the federal government on issues related to sustainability linkages. The NRC assigned the task to as committee with a wide range of expertise in government, academia, and business. The committee held public fact-finding meetings to hear from agencies and stakeholder groups; examined sustainability management examples; conducted extensive literature reviews; and more to address the issue. Sustainability for the Nation: Resource Connection and Governance Linkages is the committee's report on the issue.

The report includes insight into high-priority areas for governance linkages, the challenges of managing connected systems, impediments to successful government linkages, and more. The report also features examples of government linkages which include Adaptive Management on the Platte River, Philadelphia's Green Stormwater Infrastructure, and Managing Land Use in the Mojave.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!