NCSSM Online

Honors Energy and Sustainability

Reading Questions -- Sustainability Primer

Reading questions will often be assigned in this course. The purpose of

reading questions is to help students to identify key or important points
within the context of a report, article or primer. It is not a test of reading
retention or your memorizing skills. A grade is assigned but that is for
completion and an honest effort to understand and reformulate
information in your own way, using your own words and your own
experiences. Use reading question assignments to focus on the parts of the
assigned reading that are worth exploring in more depth – perhaps even
through additional Internet or other research on your part.

1. What was the Brundtland Commission? How did that commission

define sustainability?
The Brundtland Commission addressed the problems occurring in the
environment due to human actions. They reported that sustainable
development should allow us to meet the needs of the present, while
still allowing future generations to be able to meet the needs of the
future.

2. What fields of academic study are important to finding

sustainable solutions globally?
Two fields would be engineering, so we can develop more sustainable
technologies, and chemistry, so we can develop products that are less
harmful to the environment. Other important fields would be urban
development and planning, politics, environmental law, biologists, and
many others.

3. How are we contributing to these problems even now, even 28

years after the Brundtland Commission Report? What are the
basic problems that make our current ways of living
unsustainable? (describe 3 key problems).
-We are creating huge amounts of waste every year and aren’t very
concerned about recycling it or trying to compost food waste, and all of
this waste either uses up land for landfills, or is incinerated and emits
greenhouse gases.
-We are cutting down forests faster than they can grow back, limiting
their use for future generations. Immense amounts of deforestation for

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economic gain lead to not only loss of habitats and trees that use carbon
dioxide to create oxygen, but also releases carbon dioxide.
-Pesticides, waste, and pollution lead to the contamination of our clean
water sources such as wells, and leads to the deaths of many organisms
who either live in the water or eat the organisms that live in the water.

4. How well does the Funnel Metaphor work for you? Does it help
you to understand the problem better? Would you use it to
explain sustainability to a friend or a colleague? Why or why not?
The funnel metaphor helps me understand the problem, but it doesn’t
really include the solution, so I wouldn’t use it to explain sustainability,
but rather unsustainability.

5. What is a system and how will understanding how systems

functions help us to build a more sustainable world?
A system is made up of related individual parts that work together to
create a bigger picture. Understanding systems functions will help us
see how what may look like an insignificant factor can have a huge
impact on an ecosystem. Paying attention to the smaller details and
understanding the different parts and roles of different ecosystems will
cause us to think of more sustainable solutions that won’t degrade our
resources and destroy our environment.

6. What Max-Neefs nine human needs? Do you think this list covers
all of your own and your family’s needs? Are there some needs on
the list that you think are not essential?
Max-Neef’s nine human needs are subsistence, protection, affection,
understanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity, and freedom. I
think this covers my family’s needs, as I can’t really think of anything
else that we need to be mentally, physically, and socially content. I think
all of these needs are essential for one’s wellbeing; not being given
affection as a child can result in some serious mental/psychological
issues, and not being able to have your own identity can lead to a lack of
concern for yourself and others.

7. What is the “Triple Bottom Line”? What does it mean for creating
a more sustainable world?
The “Triple Bottom Line” is a framework including environment,
society, and economy. It means that without natural capital (the

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environment), the other two will not survive, which is why we have to
make it our priority in order to sustain our human capital (society) and
economy for future generations.

8. How does the concentration of wealth in the hands of a small

portion of society make us less sustainable? Can you provide an
example from your own experience or from something you have
read other than this Sustainability Primer?
The concentration of wealth allows that small portion to determine
what to do with it, and that usually results in being for their own
economic gain, rather than helping the billions that live in poverty, or
our dying environment. For example, wealthy corporations who need
oil have resulted to fracking, which releases toxic chemicals that
contaminate the water of nearby families. These families aren’t able to
prevent it as they don’t have nearly the amount of money that these
fracking companies do.

9. What is backcasting? Have you ever used this method to

accomplish goals before? Describe an experience where you have
used backcasting. Was it helpful?
Backcasting refers to the process of deciding what our future goals are
and determining how to achieve that goal. I’ve used this method to
accomplish multiple goals before, including getting accepted into
NCSSM online! Although I never clearly outlined them, I knew that in
order to be accepted, I had to maintain my good grades, exceed
expectations in my extracurriculars, and use time management for
writing my applications. I’m here now, so I guess it was helpful!

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