Center for Humans and Nature

South Carolina Continues Intergenerational Series on Sustainability

Regional Cultures of Conservation,

January 28th, 2010

The Center for Humans and Nature and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) of University of South Carolina Beaufort (USC-B) co-sponsored a public forum on Saturday, November 14, 2009, at USC-B.  Entitled Choices for Sustainable Living: Providing a Future for Your Grandchildren—Part II, this event was the second in a series of forums on intergenerational responsibilities to the environment held in the Bluffton / Sun City, SC area. The forum’s primary goal was to promote the intellectual and civic capacities of citizens and organizations to understand crucial environmental issues and to act for the mutual well being of humans and nature.  Presentations included Human/Environment Interactions: Hope for a Sustainable Future? (Bruce C. Coull, Dean Emeritus, School of the Environment, USC-Columbia;  Managing Energy: The Foundation of Sustainable Living (Trish Jerman, Manager, Policies and Programs, SC State Energy Office); and Planning for a Sustainable Water Supply (Dean Moss, General Manager, Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority). Read further for summaries of these talks.

Summary of Presentations: Choices for Sustainable Living: Providing a Future for Your Grandchildren

Human/Environment Interactions: Hope for a Sustainable Future?

Bruce Coull, Dean Emeritus, School of the Environment, University of South Carolina

Director, Center for Humans and Nature, South Carolina Initiative

What does the future hold for our grandchildren?  The demands we make shape the future environmental health of the world. Therefore, humanity must move toward shaping an environmentally sustainable future by adopting a biocentric ethical position.  There is vital importance in recognizing the interdependence of all life and the cost-free benefits, such as pollution and waste absorption, of a healthy ecosystem.  Moreover, humans must recognize that economic and social systems are subsets of natural systems and that environmental problems lead to social problems.   For example, human-induced increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide will spur a rise in sea levels, and eventually threaten the South Carolina Lowcountry.

Coull’s conclusion is that our economies promote the intentional consumption of goods over and above our needs and the belief that material well being defines social and psychological success. All the while, we delude ourselves by thinking that technology will correct the damage done to the earth.  What is called for is a new economy with reduced waste, energy efficiency, and prices that reflect the real (including environmental) costs of goods. Such steps should reduce our borrowing from our progeny’s future by promoting a sustainable present.

Managing Energy: The Foundation of Sustainable Living

Trish Jerman, Manager Energy Efficiency, Conservation and Outreach, South Carolina Energy Office

Ms. Jerman outlined the economic and environmental problems related to South Carolina’s inefficient use of energy. First, while South Carolina sees most of its $20 billion annual energy bill flowing out of state, it ranks at 15 among the states in energy use; is number 7 nationally among the states in per capita energy use; and stands in position 13 nationally among the states in motor fuel consumption. The state’s dramatically increasing use of energy has, of course, an effect on climate, flora and fauna, but also affects insurance costs. Health effects from air pollution and water pollution point to the need for individual and collective actions including the following:

• A reduction in the consumption of goods
• Support for renewable energy sources, especially biomass and wind in South Carolina
• Participation in green energy programs developed by utility companies
• Recycling, resulting in efficient energy use
• Simple, everyday actions like turning off computers at the end of the work day
• Energy efficiency in our homes through the use of energy efficient appliances
• The use of efficient lighting: CFL’s and LED’s when they become widely available

Efficient production and reduced energy consumption should allow our descendents a future with adequate energy sources to meet their needs.

Planning for a Sustainable Water Supply

Dean Moss, General Manager, Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority

The Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority—a public utility in the southeastern corner of South Carolina—is responsible for a 1500 square mile area, representing one of the fastest growing regions of the South Carolina coast where the number of retail customers has risen from 6,000 in 1997 to 45,000 today.  Pervasive drought since 1998, along with such problems as salt water intrusion into ground water and increased outdoor irrigation, have led to an unsustainable demand for water, a problem the Water and Sewer Authority is working to address. The utility’s objective is to plan for a reliable, sustainable supply of water for the next fifty years by promoting the efficient use of water; reclaiming and reusing what has heretofore been considered waste water; and by finding new supplies. While educating customers, adjusting rate structures, and adopting and enforcing water-use regulations are part of the solution, Moss stressed the importance of developing new and diverse water supplies, a task that will include new well fields and the desalinization of sea water. In short, Moss concluded, in Beaufort and Jasper Counties, there is no water shortage; there is a shortage of cheap water.