Integrated Knowledge Approach to Sustainability Policy

Dr. Dongwon Shin Director-General & Regional Administrator

Wonju Regional Environmental Office, Korean Ministry of Environment

The colors of the rainbow in these days

• Red• Yellow• Green• Blue• Violet• Orange• Indigo

Rainbow is always rainbow, but the colors of rainbow are changed in the human mind.

The colors of the rainbow in early days

• Red• Yellow• Green• Blue• Violet +

+

Rainbow is always rainbow, but its expressed colors are changing in the human mind.

World best 10 GDPs and 10 GSIs

1. USA

2. Japan

3. Germany

4. UK

5. France

6. Italy

7. China

8. Canada

9. Spain

10. Mexico

1. Finland

2. Norway

3. Canada

4. Sweden

5. Switzerland

6. New Zealand

7. Australia

8. Austria

9. Iceland

10. Denmark

GDP Best10 (’05) GSI Best 10 (’01)

World best 10 HPIs31. China

65. Switzerland

81. Germany

95. Japan

102. South Korea

108. U.K.

111. Canada

129. France

150. U.S.A.

178. Zimbabwe

1. Colombia

2. Costa Rica

3. Dominica

4. Panama

5. Cuba

6. Guatemala

7. Vietnam

8. Bhutan

9. Sri Lanka

10. Philippines*** Happy Planet Index means ‘the average years of happy life be a given society.’(HPI= Life Satisfaction (human mind) x Life Expectancy / Ecological Footprint)

Capitalistic society and Sustainable society

Profitability and Sustainabilityas a driving energy of subsystems

Economy Bureaucracy

SocietalCommunityCulture

Industrial Production Government

The Community

Profitability

Human Mind and Ecosystem

Sustainability

Human Mind

The Ecosystem

21001900

Club of Roman’s Long-term Perspectivebased on Human Civilization

Industrial Production

Pollution

Natural Resources

Ecologist H. Odum’s Perspective based on the System of Ecology

SUN

Fuels Materials

Environmentalsystem

INDUSTRY

ConsumptionAnd Human

ServiceAgricultural system

Used Energy

Economist Daly’s Perspective based on Economy

SUN

MACRO ECONOMY(Human Mind)

ECOSPERE

Heat Loss

M

E

M

E

Recycle

M = matter E = energy : Material and energy flows

MBA-type Strategic Perspective based on Management

GovernmentalAffairs

Engineering

Strategic

planning

Marketi

ngAccounting

Legal

counse

l

Humanresources

EnvironmentalHealthsafety

Finance

Political &

Community

relations

R & D

environmental quality Based upon diverse human mind

What is Integrated Knowledge?

Analytical judgment & Synthetical judgment (Immanuel Kant, 1724 - 1804)

• Analytical judgment;• Definition: The predicate B

belongs to the Subject A. • Example: ‘Water consists of

2 hydrogen and 1 oxygen.’ • Process:

• Synthetical judgment;• Definition: The predicate B lies c

ompletely outside the Subject A.• Example: When the snow in Cana

da melts, spring is coming.’ • Process:

Starting here!

Starting here!Clear, but nothing new!

Unclear, but something new

: Concept

Good example 1 of synthetical, therefore, integrative knowledge

• Genesis Chapter 2 Verse 24:

“ A man will leave his father and mother,

and be united to his wife.”

Good example 2 of synthetical, therefore, integrative knowledge

• Nuclear fusion:

The joining of two light nucleus form

a heavier nucleus and produce great energy.

21H + 2

1H 32He + 1

0n

Sustainable Society Requires a New Mode of Knowledge.

Difference between the knowledge of classical society and the knowledge of sustainable society*

Classical Society Sustainable Society

Economy

Knowledge

• Public interest • Income related to need• Egalitarian• Collective provision

• Market focus • Rewards for achievement• Differentials• Individual self-help

• Nature as ample reserves • Confidence in science and technology• Rationality of means• Logical Positivism for the freedom of human mind

• Nature as nature • Limits to science and technology• Rationality of ends• New Mode of Knowledge - Integration of facts/value and thought/feeling for the sustainability

*Adapted from ‘S. Cotgrove and A. Duff, 1980 (Environmentalism, Values and Social Change, British Journal of Sociology 32, No.1: p.341’)

We Need A New Mode of Knowledge.

• Just think about ‘global warming, deforestation, freshwater, desertification, genetically modified foods,’ and that how many sciences and stakeholders are interconnected there.

• Nevertheless, many scientists have a tendency not only to view the context of sustainability from their narrow focus, but also to take the boundaries between the scientific, the social, and the technological worlds. (A. Irwin, 2001, sociology and the environment)

We Need A New Mode of Knowledge.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Design for Enviornment

Recycling

New Material

Good Housekeeping

Process Modification

New Technology

Technology Research Incentive Regulation Awareness Infra

We Need A New Mode of Knowledge.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Design for Enviornment

Recycling

New Material

Good Housekeeping

Process Modification

New Technology

Technology Research Incentive Regulation Awareness Infra

Epistemological Conflicts in a sustainable society

The Human Mind over the Non-human World

Economy Bureaucracy

SocietalCommunityCulture

Industrial Production Government

The Community

Value 1

The Ecosystem

Value 2

Value 1

Human history has developed to realize the one value:

the freedom of human mind.

The sustainable society requires not only the freedom of human mind,

but also that of the nature.

Inborn Dualism in a sustainable society

Industrial Production Government

The Community

The Ecosystem

Perspective I

Perspective II

viewer’sposition

viewer’spositionobject

object

Paradigm of Economics

Paradigm of Ecology

Endless Wars Everywherebetween Two Paradigms

Data

Information

Opinions

Knowledge

Science

Beyond Science

Opinions

Knowledge

Science

Information

Perspective I

Perspective I

Perspective I

Perspective I

Perspective I

Perspective II

Perspective II

Perspective II

Perspective II

Beyond Science

Perspective I

Perspective II

Contextual Knowledge

Technological Knowledge

Reconciliatory Knowledge

Question statement

What is the problem? How can we solve the problem?

Why we have to solve the problem?

Objective Understanding the situation

Suggesting means for solutions

Managing goal-means chains

Function Detecting ‘destination’ Selecting ‘vehicles’ Effecting ‘driver’

Approach Largely Logical positivism

Imagination & innovation

Reflective moral knowledge

Framework Environmental paradigm

Economic paradigm Sustainability paradigm

Beneficiary the community enterprise government

Relevant disciplines

Environmental and social sciences, economics.

Engineering, microeconomics, and the art of design

Human ecology, macroeconomics, policy science including the art of SIA

Three Subsystems of New Knowledge

Basic Unit of a New Mode of Knowledge in the Age of Sustainability

TechnologicalKnowledge

Contextual Knowledge

ReconciliatoryKnowledge

Brown Supplier Cleaner Supplier

Demander for Better Commons

Demander for Better Market Compliance Program

More Sustainable ProgramDesign and buildKnowledge infrastructure

towardssustainability

Conclusion:

1. EIA focuses mainly on the contextual level of knowledge.

2. EIA needs to evolve into more interwoven level of knowledge-infraincluding technology and policy,

3. Where eco-governance issues should be founded.