Core 3

Global Resource Consumption and Security

I. Global trends in consumption

Global and regional/continental progress towards poverty reduction, including the growth of the “new global middle class”
Measuring trends in resource consumption, including individual, national and global ecological footprints
An overview of global patterns and trends in the availability and consumption of:
- water, including embedded water in food and manufactured goods
- land/food, including changing diets in middle-income countries
- energy, including the relative and changing importance of hydrocarbons, nuclear power, renewables, new sources of modern energy

17 Emerging Energy Technologies That Will Change The WorldFrom space-based solar panels to micro-nuclear reactors.

The importance of teaching youth to spot energy ‘fake news'News ...

How many planets does it take to sustain your lifestyle?Calculate your Ecological Footprint. Find out how many planets would be needed if everyone in the world lived like you?

footprint.wwf.org.uk/

The massive CO2 emitter you may not know aboutCement is the source of about 8% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions. How can this be changed?

II. Impacts of changing trends in resource consumption

The water–food–energy “nexus” and how its complex interactions affect:
- national water security, including access to safe water
- national food security, including food availability
- national energy security, including energy pathways and geopolitical issues
The implications of global climate change for the water–food–energy nexus
The disposal and recycling of consumer items, including international flows of waste

Canada's Dumping Its Trash in Another Country's BackyardSomething's rotten in the port of Manila -- and the stench is 100 per cent

How do we tackle the fastest growing waste stream on the planet?E-waste makes up 70% of toxic waste in landfills – but manufacturers are realizing it could be a valuable source of rare materials and could soon be queuing up to take it off your hands.

Toxic 'e-waste' dumped in poor nations, says United NationsMillions of tonnes of old electronic goods illegally exported to developing countries, as people dump luxury items

Mushrooms have the power to eat plastic say scientistsFungi can be used to break down waste plastic and create sustainable building materials, according to scientists from Kew Gardens in London.

III. Resource stewardship

Divergent thinking about population and resource consumption trends:
- pessimistic views, including neo-Malthusian views
- optimistic views, including Boserup
- balanced views, including resource stewardship
Resource stewardship strategies, including:
- the value of the circular economy as a systems approach for effective cycling of materials and energy
- the role of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and progress made toward meeting them

Cradle to cradle designGreen-minded architect and designer William McDonough asks what our buildings and products would look like if designers took into account "all children, all species, for all time."

The surprising thing I learned sailing solo around the worldWhat do you learn when you sail around the world on your own? When solo sailor Ellen MacArthur circled the globe – carrying everything she needed with her – she came back with new insight into the way the world works, as a place of interlocking cycles and finite resources, where the decisions we make today affect what's left for tomorrow. She proposes a bold new way to see the world's economic systems: not as linear, but as circular, where everything comes around.

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