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Beyond Sustainability
Second Edition
Also by Tim Delaney and Tim Madigan and from McFarland

Friendship and Happiness: And the Connection Between the Two (2017)
Sportsmanship: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (2016)
The Sociology of Sports: An Introduction, 2d ed. (2015)
Beyond Sustainability
A Thriving Environment
Second Editon
Tim Delaney and Tim Madigan

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

Jefferson, North Carolina
 ISBN (print) ­978–1-4766–8236–5
ISBN (ebook) ­978–1-4766–4429–5
Library of Congress and British Library cataloguing data are available
Library of Congress Control Number 2021027801
© 2021 Tim Delaney and Tim Madigan. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Front cover image © 2021 Art Stock Creative/Shutterstock
Printed in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
 Table of Contents
Preface

Chapter 1
Environmental Thrivability, the Ecosystem and Mass Extinctions

Chapter 2
Climate Change and Human Dependency on Fossil Fuels

Chapter 3
Overpopulation and the Five Horrorists

Chapter 4
Humans Will Be the Cause of the Sixth Mass Extinction

Chapter 5
Nature and Human Skepticism Will Be the Cause of the Sixth Mass
Extinction

Chapter 6
Environmental Ethics and Thrivability

Chapter 7
Helping the Environment Thrive

Chapter 8
Happiness Is a Thriving Environment

Chapter 9
We Can Change, but Will We Change?
 Chapter 10
Educating Thrivability

Bibliography
Index of Terms
The Doomsday Clock reads
100 seconds to midnight
 Preface
The authors of this book come from two disciplines—sociology and
philosophy—which, while having certain similarities, usually address issues
in a very different way. Nonetheless, both sociologists and philosophers have
concerns about our environment’s ability to not only sustain itself, but also
reach a point where it can actually thrive. And this helps to explain why we
feel that it is especially important to take an interdisciplinary approach to
the study of the environment.
We are children of the “Environmental Seventies” and as such have always
been well aware of the attacks on the environment and attempts to help it
thrive via social movements and the passage of a great deal of legislation
designed to protect it on behalf of humanity. At this time, both Democrats
and Republicans agreed that the environment was important enough to
protect. But then came the 1980s and all of that changed. The past four
decades have been characterized by the growing power and influence of the
fossil fuel industry, countered by large groups of people who are still fighting
the good fight. The authors have done their share of promoting
environmental causes throughout this time, but during the past decade they
have become increasingly dedicated to contributing to the conversation of
making a positive change through education.
In the spirit of the ­socio-philosophical approach to the study of the
environment, we attended and gave presentations at the Seventh
International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social
Sustainability, held January 5–7, 2011, at the University of Waikato in
Hamilton, New Zealand. Hundreds of dedicated individuals from
throughout the world gathered together to share their perspectives and offer
possible strategies for furthering the cause of sustainability. It was a rich
cultural experience, enhanced by the natural beauty of the surroundings. We
took the time to explore much of the North Island and among other things
became enamored with the indigenous culture of the Maori (a Polynesian
people that arrived in New Zealand around 950 ce) and the spirit of
manaakitanga—a ­deep-rooted concept in Maori culture that implies
guardianship—over their land (whenua), treasures (taonga), people
(tangata), and visitors (manuhiri). Manuhiri are expected to abide by the
Maori sentiment of “take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but
footprints.” Such a motto helps to sustain the natural environment.
This was an amazing experience for us, and we decided to become more
involved with the ­pro-environment movement by attending other such
conferences but also by conducting a great deal of research. Our research led
us to publishing the first edition of Beyond Sustainability: A Thriving
Environment in 2014 and now the second edition. We have each also
developed environmental courses at our respective college campuses that we
teach regularly (as online courses to help save the environment) and have
become a part of the sustainability programs at our colleges (see Chapter 10
for a description).
We have always been struck by the idea that a focus on “sustainability”
was misguided. Instead, we have proposed that the goal for the environment
should be “thrivability.” After all, if the environment is already
compromised, as it certainly is, why would anyone promote sustaining a
comprised environment? If one is in debt, sustaining the current situation is
not the goal; the hope would be to get out of debt and thrive. Thus, in
Beyond Sustainability we emphasize that the environment needs to be
repaired to the point that it can thrive.
In this, the second edition of Beyond Sustainability, we have made a very
large number of updates both in terms of more recent data and examples
and also with the introduction of new topics and concepts, all the while
emphasizing more clearly the need to lessen our dependency on fossil fuels
in order to halt the significant and negative impact humans have inflicted
upon the environment. In many ways, then, this is like a new book.
In Chapter 1 we examine the differences between sustainability and
thrivability and discuss such topics as sociological and philosophical
environmentalism, the environment and its many ecosystems, mass
extinctions and their causes, and social movements.
In Chapter 2, we examine the concept of “carrying capacity”; our reliance
on fossil fuels; climate change with an emphasis on carbon dioxide and
global warming, climate change and the ozone, and climate change and the
greenhouse effect; the effects of climate change including melting glaciers,
ice caps and the thawing permafrost; ocean acidification; storms and severe
weather. We also place an emphasis on the need to increase our use of
renewable energy sources.
In Chapter 3 we look at the effects of overpopulation on the environment
and discuss the “Five Horrorists” concept (an updated version of the “Four
Horsemen”) that includes a description of “enviromares”—environmental
nightmares (various forms of human caused pollution).
Chapter 4 begins with a close examination of the extraction of fossil fuels;
the creation and mass abuse of plastics; food waste; harmful agricultural
practices; deforestation; marine debris; electronic waste (­e-waste); and
medical waste. These activities contribute, either directly or indirectly, to the
sixth mass extinction.
In Chapter 5, we look at the role of nature (e.g., volcanic eruptions,
lightning strikes, wildfires, storms, invasive species, vapors from sulfur
springs, and ­outer-worldly forces) as the potential cause of the sixth mass
extinction and examine the skepticism (e.g., the role of politics, Big
Business, religion, ­anti-science rhetoric, the conservative and radical right
media, and the finite pool of worry) held by some toward the role of humans
in the sixth mass extinction.
Chapter 6 provides a philosophical and ethical look at sustainability and
thrivability and addresses such issues as whether or not it is humanity’s
responsibility to try and protect the environment.
In Chapter 7 we examine ways to help the environment thrive including a
discussion on such topics as the meaning of “going green”; measures
designed to protect and save natural resources; the development of new
technology; and the idea that the environment itself should have the right to
thrive.
Chapter 8 examines the meaning of happiness and describe the many
different ways of achieving happiness. We conclude with a discussion on the
concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH).
Chapter 9 highlights the need for humans to change their behavior if we
hope to prolong the sixth mass extinction as long as possible; provides two
case study examples that demonstrates that humans can change if properly
motivated; explores the concept of the “Change to Green”; and describes the
environmental movement toward thrivability.
Chapter 10 discusses ways in which we need to educate people on
environmental sustainability and thrivability. The chapter concludes with a
checklist of ways people can help the environment thrive in the home, the
yard, at school or work, while on vacation, in the car, and green RVing.
Each chapter ends with a popular culture section. The purpose of these is
to demonstrate that one of the most effective ways to influence change, as
well as to educate people about the ways in which the environment is being
compromised, is through a variety of popular culture mediums. Didactic
lecturing seldom causes individuals to change, and quite often has the
opposite effect of raising resentment, whereas popular works can often have
an immediate impact on one’s behavior. Thus, popular culture has direct
application for changing people’s actions.
It is also our hope that this book will help to raise the awareness of others
about the dire issues connected to our compromised environment. From a
personal standpoint we also hope to pay off some of the carbon footprints
we generated by traversing the planet in our pursuit of knowledge and
cultural awareness of a multitude of diverse cultures. Ultimately, it is our
goal to educate others on the need to change our behaviors immediately if
we hope to save humanity from itself.
We wrapped up the revisions of this second edition of Beyond
Sustainability while the November 3, 2020, U.S. elections for president and
several other governmental positions were held. These elections were critical
for a number of ­socio-economic reasons including the future of the
environment. The reelection of Donald Trump would have led to a
continued assault on the environment while the election of Joe Biden would
signal a rebirth in environmentalism. As we demonstrate throughout this
text, Trump took innumerable steps to gut not only the eight years of ­pro-
environmental legislation ushered in by former president Barack Obama
and ­vice-president Joe Biden, but he also sided with the fossil fuel industry
repeatedly much to the chagrin of those who would prefer such basics as
clean air, water, and sustainable land and those who would promote
renewable forms of energy and a lessening of our dependency on fossil fuels.
Under Trump, the environment would not only fail to thrive, but it would
also no longer sustain itself. Conversely, Biden promised, among other
things, to create millions of ­good-paying green jobs (many of them union),
invest in a green infrastructure, create a clean energy future, establish a plan
to reach his goal of ­net-zero emissions by 2050, and recommit the United
States to international climate agreements (i.e., the Paris Agreement). Biden
won the election (in what people referred to as a “landslide” victory), giving
hope to all environmentalists across the globe that, perhaps, the
environment could be saved.
It should also be noted that this new edition of Beyond Sustainability was
written during the COVID-19 pandemic and as such there are many
references to this disease, primarily in direct relationship to the
environment. A few politicians, including Boris Johnson, UK prime
minister; Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s president; and U.S. president Donald
Trump were referenced with regard to ­the coronavirus and all three of these
men would minimize its threat and contract the disease. Johnson contracted
the disease in early April; Bolsonaro in July; and Trump in October. All
three survived. By the start of November 2020, other world leaders would
also contract the disease including Juan Orlando Hernandez (Honduras);
Alexander Lukashenko (Belarus); Prince Albert II (Monaco); Jeanine Anez
(Bolivia); Luis Abinader (Dominican Republic); and top officials from many
other nations including Iran, India, Israel, South Africa, South Sudan,
Gambia, and ­Guinea-Bissau. Globally, more than 110 million people had
contracted ­COVID-19 and more than 2.4 million had died from ­COVID-19
by the start of November. In the United States, more than 28 million
Americans had contracted the disease and nearly a half million deaths were
recorded by ­mid-February 2021. As alarming as these statistics are, they
represented data just as the second global wave of ­COVID-19 was
beginning.
 Chapter 1

Environmental Thrivability, the Ecosystem

and Mass Extinctions
When you hear the expression “The sky is falling!” what image comes to
mind? Perhaps it is the folktale from “Chicken Little” in which a chicken
thinks the sky is falling when an acorn falls on his head, with the
corresponding moral of not succumbing to the paranoia and mass hysteria
of others? Or maybe you think of the version of “Chicken Little” wherein
one chick learns to heed the warning that a danger, in the form of a fox, is
imminent. The chick that heeded the warning lived while all the others
perished (eaten by the fox).
Cornelia Griggs, a general surgeon affiliated with Massachusetts General
Hospital at the time of the early American stages of the ­COVID-19 global
pandemic, warned in mid–March 2020, “The sky is falling. I’m not afraid to
say it. A few weeks from now you may call me an alarmist; and I can live
with that. Actually, I will keel over with happiness if I’m proven wrong”
(Griggs 2020). ­COVID-19, also known as the novel Coronavirus, was first
reported in Wuhan, China, and quickly spread worldwide. As explained by
the Cleveland Clinic (2020), “Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can
cause respiratory illness in humans. They get their name, ‘corona,’ from the
many ­crown-like spikes on the surface of the virus. Severe acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and the
common cold are examples of Coronaviruses that cause illness in humans.”
Initially, a number of people including such politicians as U.S. president
Donald Trump, UK prime minister Boris Johnson and Brazilian president
Jair Bolsonaro did not heed the warnings of medical experts and were slow
to respond. It’s as if they cried, “Fake fox.” Predictably, these three nations
would have among the highest number of infected persons. Other global
and local leaders (i.e., Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand; Lee Hsien Loong,
Singapore; and Moon ­Jae-in, South Korea) reacted more quickly, fearing that
the proverbial fox was already in the henhouse. (See Chapter 3 for a further
discussion on ­COVID-19 specifically and pandemics in general.)
The “sky is falling” expression has been applied to all sorts of social
activities, including concern about the environment. For many years ­pro-
environment extremist advocates have proclaimed the idea that we are all
doomed unless we drastically change our behaviors. And, while some
inroads have been achieved by ­pro-environmentalists in their attempt to
better protect the environment, their voices have, historically, often gone
unheard. Why is this? Because they are perceived as people who have been
hit on the head with an acorn and have now developed a heightened sense of
paranoia? For people who doubt that the proverbial sky is falling,
environmentalists and their proclamation that humans are harming the
environment are merely the product of ecohype. Ecohype refers to the
constant proclamations among certain environmentalists that the
environment is doomed (the sky is falling) unless humans drastically change
their behaviors.
As the evidence of a compromised environment becomes too
overwhelming and convincing for most people to doubt, however, a ­pro-
environment movement has grown. This social movement is generally
expressed, in some variation, as environmental sustainability. For years now,
all sorts of people have used the terms “environment” and “sustainability”
together. Proclaiming an interest in environmental sustainability has
become almost ubiquitous. Most college campuses, places of business, and
governmental agencies express a growing concern about taking
sustainability to heart, and an increasingly large number of task forces are
devoted to various projects related to this.
Unfortunately, in some cases, promoting environmental sustainability or
environmentally friendly products has merely served as a gimmick by
corporations hoping to sell products promoted as “green” or politicians
desperately trying to project some sort of cultural meaningfulness by
expressing “green” concerns and yet holding back their votes on actual green
initiatives. A number of colleges and universities, perhaps to appease
environmentally concerned students and faculty members, have
implemented policies that, essentially, incorporate the same desired ends of
corporations and politicians. There also exists, however, academic persons
who are very concerned about the environment for the same reason that
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