[MUSIC PLAYING]
We live in an unprecedented period in human history.
Science, technology, engineering, and medicine
allow us to live in a world that is
reliably and efficiently tailored to our needs
and wants.
We have cars and planes that enable
us to travel great distances, vaccines
to protect us against dangerous pathogens, electricity
and fossil fuels to light our homes
and moderate their temperatures no matter where we live,
and a seemingly endless supply of food and water.
This is indeed an extraordinary time to live.
But how long will the world's supply of resources
sustain our voracious demand for goods and services?
And what does this mean for our future
and the future of our planet?
For the majority of history, humans got by on very little.
First, we lived in small and nomadic groups
of hunter-gatherers.
Later, following the domestication
of various species of animals and plants,
we banded together into civilizations
sustained by agriculture.
Although there was significant inequality,
human society thrived.
Furthermore, our relative impact on the environment
and the supply of resources was minimal.
Then in the 18th century, everything changed.
The Industrial Revolution was born.
Suddenly, new manufacturing techniques
allowed us to mass-produce food, clothes, tools, electronics,
and medicines.
The internal combustion engine gave rise to the automobile.
All of these achievements and others
combined to create the so-called middle class.
Since the Industrial Revolution, the world's population,
affluence, and demand for materials
have exploded and continue to increase
at an unprecedented rate.
At the same time, greenhouse gas emissions
into Earth's atmosphere have increased
exponentially due to human activities,
altering the global climate and sea levels.
To top things off, our rate of consumption
is now so high that Earth is gradually being
depleted of its resources.
To combat global warming, environmental degradation,
and resource depletion, the United Nations
introduced the concept of sustainable development
under the Brundtland commission in 1987.
The commission defined sustainable development
as that which "meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs."
Under this definition, three dimensions-- namely,
the environment, the economy, and society--
interact in the creation of sustainable solutions.
Industry's primary objectives are
the development, production, and delivery
of products and services, as well as
creating value for society.
In accomplishing these objectives,
industry consumes large quantities of resources
and creates enormous amounts of pollution
and environmental degradation.
Therefore, industry has a crucial role
to play in the transformation of our society
towards environmental sustainability,
particularly in relation to our creation
and consumption of products.
The importance of industry in the achievement
of sustainable development led to the introduction
of eco-efficiency by the World Business Council.
Mathematically, eco-efficiency is
equal to the value of the product or service divided
by its life cycle environmental impact.
Eco-efficiency improvements in products and services
over the last three decades have led
to huge technological changes.
For instance, old incandescent lighting bulbs
were replaced with light-emitting diodes.
Televisions which used cathode ray tubes
gave way to those which used liquid crystal displays.
Increases in fuel efficiency have
made cars cheaper to operate.
There are many other examples of eco-efficiency improvements
in products.
So what was the outcome of these improvements?
Surely, our environmental impact has gone down?
The answer is no.
It turns out that despite all these innovations,
our total environmental impact has gone up dramatically.
But what was the reason for this?
Well, it seems that the development of technologies
that are more eco-efficient than their predecessors
has led to us using them in greater
numbers due to increases in population and affluence,
which are both products of increasing living standards.
In addition, technology allowed us to build them
in much larger sizes.
For example, the largest CRT TV was around 40 inches in size.
But LCD technology has allowed us to produce televisions
in sizes up to 110 inches, which ultimately
has a much larger environmental impact than the largest CRT TV.
Consequently, the efficiency gains along the way
have been wiped out due to the impact caused
by the consumption increase.
This effect is called rebound.
Essentially, these improvements led
to problems shifting somewhere else,
causing even more problems.
For example, building more efficiency
into products of very small size, such as LEDs,
allowed us to use them in greater numbers.
Making cars more fuel-efficient enabled people
to buy larger models for little to no additional cost
and made smaller models more affordable for people
on lower incomes.
As a result, our roads and public transportation network
have become more congested, which
has created an even larger problem in terms of resource
consumption and has had a bigger impact on the environment.
As a consequence of the rebound effect,
our understanding of sustainability
has changed from relative to absolute.
We realised that making things a little better or more
eco-efficient does not work.
In addition, Earth's carrying capacity is not infinite.
There are limits and planetary boundaries
to the world's eco-capacity.
Hence, the concept of sustainability
is absolute rather than relative.
This means that all of humanity's activities
should stay within the carrying capacity of the planet
in order to achieve sustainable development.
Meanwhile, our climate continues to warm.
Biodiversity is decreasing at an alarming rate.
And we are running out of resources.
So what's the solution?
From a societal and industrial perspective,
how can we hope to meet the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs?
We'll cover that in our next video.
This video series was supported by UNSW Sydney's Inspired
Learning Initiative and produced by Dr James Vassie
with the engineering advice of Professor Sami Kara and
Dr Shiva Abdoli.