Sustainability Values

A Diagnostic


Anonymity and confidentiality will be protected.

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Assume the total global budget for worldwide sustainable development efforts is $100, that you are the person to allocate it, and that you must allocate all of it. Assume your allocations will determine the outcomes that get emphasized by sustainable development efforts. Allocate ALL $100 among the following 6 choices.

Resources: Money for programs that promote & sustain renewable & non-renewable resource inputs into the economy, including energy, biomaterials, water, fish, minerals, oil, and soil. $
Life Support: Money for programs that promote and sustain ecosystem functions and services such as water filtration, climate moderation, crop pollination, and protection from solar radiation. $
Nature: Money for programs that promote and sustain species, habitat, and conditions such as biodiversity, wilderness, parks, and free-flowing rivers. $
People: Money for programs that end poverty, disease, and illiteracy so as to increase people's capacity to meet challenges such as sustainable development. $
Institutions: Money for programs that promote and sustain markets, governments, media, civil society, military, health care, art, religion, and other institutions that have the capacity to meet challenges and solve problems. $
Culture: Money for programs that promote and sustain values and traditions such as freedom, equality, democracy, art, music, family values, capitalism, religion, small family farm, rural jobs, property rights, discipline, honor parents, tolerance for diversity, inclusion, opportunity, etc. $
Total $

Assume the total global budget for worldwide sustainable development efforts is $100, that you are the person to allocate it, and that you must allocate all of it. How would you allocate the $100 between the following two choices? You must allocate ALL of the $100.

Money for programs to help people living today who lack basic necessities such as sufficient food, shelter, economic opportunity, clean air, and clean water. $
Money for programs that ensure future generations have environmental and social conditions to meet their basic needs. $
Total $

Assume an unwanted land use (such as a pipeline or hazardous waste dump) were proposed for the community where you live and two organizations were asking for your donations. You have $100. Allocate it between two organizations. You must allocate ALL of the $100.

Money for the organization whose mission is to monitor, advise, and help the proposed land use be developed in my community in ways that best protect the people and environment in my community. $
Money for the organization whose mission is to stop the proposed land use in my community (even if doing so relocates it to another community). $
Total $


How Should Sustainability Be Achieved?

Six broad strategies exist. Which strategies do you most support?
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
I believe technological innovation is the best way to address sustainable development challenges. Human ingenuity knows no bounds. Necessity is the mother of invention. As challenges become critical, innovators offering solutions will be rewarded.
I believe unleashing the free market is the best way to address sustainable development challenges. Businesses will overcome sustainability challenges such as degraded ecosystem services, climate change, resource scarcity, and social unrest if and when these challenges threaten business operations and profits. We need to minimize burdensome government regulations.
I believe that fixing market failures is the best way to address sustainable development challenges. Market failures include externalities (such as pollution) and free-ridership (such as benefiting from a stable climate that others pay to maintain). These market failures wrongly reward business decisions that harm people and planet. Market fixes will require some government intervention and the cooperation of businesses.
I believe strong government is the best way to address sustainable development challenges. Government agencies with clear performance metrics and competent staff offer the best solutions for some sustainability challenges such as climate change. Solutions to Tragedies of the Commons, such as climate change, often require mutual coercion mutually agreed upon.
I believe new institutions will be the best way to address sustainable development challenges. New partnerships and programs, many led by civil society organizations (i.e., NGOs), will emerge to replace 20th Century institutions and solve 21st Century problems. Distinctions will blur between business, government, and civil society as new institutions emerge through crosssector partnership and collaboration.
I believe education of consumers and citizens is the best way to address sustainable development challenges. Sustainable development ultimately boils down to the hearts, minds, and behaviors of individuals--the daily decisions people make. People will make good decisions if they have the right information.


Values and Beliefs

Rate how much you agree with each of the following statements.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
My religious faith and practice motivate my environmental stewardship.
Other mammals have as much right to exist as humans.
Humanity is pushing the limits of Earth's ecological systems, risking ecological collapse.
The human population explosion presents the greatest threat to sustainable development.
Nature’s ecology has self-correcting properties that keep it balanced and healthy. If humans disturb this balance, then nature becomes less healthy.
The land ethics of native and aboriginal people (i.e., Native Americans alive before Columbus) were more "sustainable" than the land ethics of middle class people alive today.
Evolution (survival-of-the-fittest) made humans the best-adapted, highest-evolved species and we therefore have earned the right to manage other species.


Demographics

Several simple demographic questions follow: they will be used only in the aggregate data to show how people's sustainability values differ by age, political orientation, travel, and where they grew up. All of this information remains completely confidential and will not be reported.

Age


Gender





For most of my life I lived...





Politically, I tend to be...




In terms of international travel experience, I have...






Thank you!