The End of Sustainability

The End of Sustainability PDF Author: Melinda Harm Benson
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 070062516X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The time has come for us to collectively reexamine—and ultimately move past—the concept of sustainability in environmental and natural resources law and management. The continued invocation of sustainability in policy discussions ignores the emerging reality of the Anthropocene, which is creating a world characterized by extreme complexity, radical uncertainty, and unprecedented change. From a legal and policy perspective, we must face the impossibility of even defining—let alone pursuing—a goal of “sustainability” in such a world. Melinda Harm Benson and Robin Kundis Craig propose resilience as a more realistic and workable communitarian approach to environmental governance. American environmental and natural resources laws date to the early 1970s, when the steady-state “Balance of Nature” model was in vogue—a model that ecologists have long since rejected, even before adding the complication of climate change. In the Anthropocene, a new era in which humans are the key agent of change on the planet, these laws (and American culture more generally) need to embrace new narratives of complex ecosystems and humans’ role as part of them—narratives exemplified by cultural tricksters and resilience theory. Updating Aldo Leopold’s vision of nature and humanity as a single community for the Anthropocene, Benson and Craig argue that the narrative of resilience integrates humans back into the complex social and ecological system known as Earth. As such, it empowers humans to act for a better future through law and policy despite the very real challenges of climate change.

The End of Sustainability

The End of Sustainability PDF Author: Melinda Harm Benson
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 070062516X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book

Book Description
The time has come for us to collectively reexamine—and ultimately move past—the concept of sustainability in environmental and natural resources law and management. The continued invocation of sustainability in policy discussions ignores the emerging reality of the Anthropocene, which is creating a world characterized by extreme complexity, radical uncertainty, and unprecedented change. From a legal and policy perspective, we must face the impossibility of even defining—let alone pursuing—a goal of “sustainability” in such a world. Melinda Harm Benson and Robin Kundis Craig propose resilience as a more realistic and workable communitarian approach to environmental governance. American environmental and natural resources laws date to the early 1970s, when the steady-state “Balance of Nature” model was in vogue—a model that ecologists have long since rejected, even before adding the complication of climate change. In the Anthropocene, a new era in which humans are the key agent of change on the planet, these laws (and American culture more generally) need to embrace new narratives of complex ecosystems and humans’ role as part of them—narratives exemplified by cultural tricksters and resilience theory. Updating Aldo Leopold’s vision of nature and humanity as a single community for the Anthropocene, Benson and Craig argue that the narrative of resilience integrates humans back into the complex social and ecological system known as Earth. As such, it empowers humans to act for a better future through law and policy despite the very real challenges of climate change.

The End of Sustainability

The End of Sustainability PDF Author: Melinda Harm Benson
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 070062516X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book

Book Description
The time has come for us to collectively reexamine—and ultimately move past—the concept of sustainability in environmental and natural resources law and management. The continued invocation of sustainability in policy discussions ignores the emerging reality of the Anthropocene, which is creating a world characterized by extreme complexity, radical uncertainty, and unprecedented change. From a legal and policy perspective, we must face the impossibility of even defining—let alone pursuing—a goal of “sustainability” in such a world. Melinda Harm Benson and Robin Kundis Craig propose resilience as a more realistic and workable communitarian approach to environmental governance. American environmental and natural resources laws date to the early 1970s, when the steady-state “Balance of Nature” model was in vogue—a model that ecologists have long since rejected, even before adding the complication of climate change. In the Anthropocene, a new era in which humans are the key agent of change on the planet, these laws (and American culture more generally) need to embrace new narratives of complex ecosystems and humans’ role as part of them—narratives exemplified by cultural tricksters and resilience theory. Updating Aldo Leopold’s vision of nature and humanity as a single community for the Anthropocene, Benson and Craig argue that the narrative of resilience integrates humans back into the complex social and ecological system known as Earth. As such, it empowers humans to act for a better future through law and policy despite the very real challenges of climate change.

The End of Sustainability

The End of Sustainability PDF Author: Melinda Morgan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
It is time to move past the concept of sustainability. The realities of the Anthropocene warrant this conclusion. They include unprecedented and irreversible rates of human induced biodiversity loss, exponential increases in per-capita resource consumption, and global climate change. These factors combine to create an increasing likelihood of rapid, nonlinear, social and ecological regime changes. The recent failure of the Rio 20 provides an opportunity to collectively reexamine -- and ultimately move past -- the concept of sustainability as an environmental goal. We must face the impossibility of defining -- let alone pursuing -- a goal of ''sustainability'' in a world characterized by such extreme complexity, radical uncertainty and lack of stationarity. After briefly examining sustainability's failure, we propose resilience thinking as one possible new orientation and point to the challenges associated with translating resilience theory into policy application.

Real Green

Real Green PDF Author: Dr Manuel Arias-Maldonado
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 1409476669
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
What would a sustainable society look like? How could it be achieved? By challenging conventional wisdom about the ecological crisis and reframing the traditional values of green politics "Real Green; Sustainability after the End of Nature" offers new answers to the key questions of the environmental debate. In this ground-breaking and challenging work Manuel Arias-Maldonado convincingly argues that, since nature has now been transformed into a part of the human environment, it can be seen to no longer exist. Ecological problems thus become an inevitable and normal feature of our relationship with nature. Hence a post-natural environmentalism, realistic and liberal while remaining green, is advocated. In this framework, sustainability, democracy and liberalism become mutually reinforcing elements rather than conflicting ones. Only by combining them can a green society be realised.

Rethinking Corporate Sustainability in the Era of Climate Crisis

Rethinking Corporate Sustainability in the Era of Climate Crisis PDF Author: Raz Godelnik
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030773183
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 163

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Book Description
This book provides a clear, critical, and timely analysis of the state of corporate sustainability within the context of the climate crisis. It offers not only a substantive critique of the current efforts but also clarity about the changes needed and how to implement them. The book goes beyond the more common debate on shareholder capitalism vs. stakeholder capitalism to explain the shortcomings of the current approach to sustainability in business, which the author describes as sustainability-as-usual. Using strategic design lenses, the author proposes a new model of awakened sustainability, which offers a transformational shift in corporate sustainability to ensure companies fairly and effectively address the climate crisis. The book presents the numerous changes needed in the environment in which companies operate to enable awakened sustainability and how these changes can be realized. Grounded in the scientific community’s calls for urgent action on climate change, this groundbreaking text provides scholars with an evaluation of current and future trends in corporate sustainability. It connects the dots between the progress made in the last five decades and the opportunities entailed in the work on a regenerative and just vision for companies in this decade and beyond.

Science, Philosophy and Sustainability

Science, Philosophy and Sustainability PDF Author: Angela Guimaraes Pereira
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131763456X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
For science to remain a legitimate and trustworthy source of knowledge, society will have to engage in the collective processes of knowledge co-production, which not only includes science, but also other types of knowledge. This process of change has to include a new commitment to knowledge creation and transmission and its role in a plural society. This book proposes to consider new ways in which science can be used to sustain our planet and enrich our lives. It helps to release and reactivate social responsibility within contemporary science and technology. It reviews critically relevant cases of contemporary scientific practice within the Cartesian paradigm, relabelled as 'innovation research', promoted as essential for the progress and well-being of humanity, and characterised by high capital investment, centralised control of funding and quality, exclusive expertise, and a reductionism that is philosophical as well as methodological. This is an accessible and relevant book for scholars in Science and Technology Studies, History and Philosophy of Science, and Science, Engineering and Technology Ethics. Providing an array of concrete examples, it supports scientists, engineers and technical experts, as well as policy-makers and other non-technical professionals working with science and technology to re-direct their approach to global problems, in a more integrative, self-reflective and humble direction.

Thriving Beyond Sustainability

Thriving Beyond Sustainability PDF Author: Andres R. Edwards
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 1550924508
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Every fifteen seconds on our Earth, a child dies from waterborne disease. Three times an hour, another species becomes extinct. Each day we consume eighty-five million barrels of oil and pump twenty-three million tons of carbon dioxide into an already warming atmosphere. But against this bleak backdrop, beacons of hope shine from thousands of large and small initiatives taking place everywhere from isolated villages to major urban centers. Thriving Beyond Sustainability draws a collective map of individuals, organizations, and communities from around the world that are committed to building an alternative future—one that strives to restore ecological health; reinvent outmoded institutions; and rejuvenate our environmental, social, and economic systems. The projects and initiatives profiled are meeting the challenges of the day with optimism, hope, and results, leading the way in: Relocalization Green commerce Ecological design Environmental conservation Social transformation Overflowing with inspiration, the stories and ideas in these pages will cause the most chronic pessimist to see the glass as half full—to move beyond a perception of surviving with scarcity to one of flourishing with abundance. The comprehensive resource section provides the tools for everyone to become a catalyst for change. Andres R. Edwards is the author of The Sustainability Revolution, which has sold over twenty thousand copies. He is an educator, media designer, LEED-accredited green building and sustainability consultant, and the founder of EduTracks, a firm specializing in developing education programs and providing consulting services on sustainable practices.

The Heart of Sustainability

The Heart of Sustainability PDF Author: Andres Edwards
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 1771422009
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
A thriving life and livable future for our planet starts with you. Amidst the doom and gloom that dominates the headlines, a different kind of story about an alternative and sustainable future is unfolding. The players are social activists, visionaries, revolutionaries, and cultural innovators, the backdrop is this Anthropocene: the tipping point of our global and environmental challenges, and the narrative is the molding of a new paradigm to shape our collective future, and make environmental change. The Heart of Sustainability delves into the human dimension of this burgeoning international movement with an aim to become climate activists and build a better world. Author Andrés Edwards frames the conversation about consciousness, activism, innovation, and sustainability by: Explaining how self-development is a key driver for environmental planetary change Describing how the confluence of the consciousness and technological revolutions provide unique opportunities for balance and fulfillment Exploring how we can move forward individually and collectively to create a thriving, livable future from the inside out, during this Anthropocene. This landmark work illustrates the integration of the four Es: ecology, economy, equity, and education—the bedrock of the current sustainability framework-with the four Cs : conscious, creative, compassionate, and connected. Focusing on specific examples and concrete initiatives from social activists around the world, it shows us how to reconnect with ourselves, each other, and nature in order to tackle the climate change challenges we face as a global community. Andrés R. Edwards is the author of the award-winning Thriving Beyond Sustainability and The Sustainability Revolution . He is also the founder and president of EduTracks, a firm specializing education programs and consulting services on sustainable practices for museums, zoos, aquariums, culture and history centers.

Real Green

Real Green PDF Author: Manuel Arias-Maldonado
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317070895
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
What would a sustainable society look like? How could it be achieved? By challenging conventional wisdom about the ecological crisis and reframing the traditional values of green politics "Real Green; Sustainability after the End of Nature" offers new answers to the key questions of the environmental debate. In this ground-breaking and challenging work Manuel Arias-Maldonado convincingly argues that, since nature has now been transformed into a part of the human environment, it can be seen to no longer exist. Ecological problems thus become an inevitable and normal feature of our relationship with nature. Hence a post-natural environmentalism, realistic and liberal while remaining green, is advocated. In this framework, sustainability, democracy and liberalism become mutually reinforcing elements rather than conflicting ones. Only by combining them can a green society be realised.

State of the World 2013

State of the World 2013 PDF Author: The Worldwatch Institute
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 9781610914499
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Every day, we are presented with a range of “sustainable” products and activities—from “green” cleaning supplies to carbon offsets—but with so much labeled as “sustainable,” the term has become essentially sustainababble, at best indicating a practice or product slightly less damaging than the conventional alternative. Is it time to abandon the concept altogether, or can we find an accurate way to measure sustainability? If so, how can we achieve it? And if not, how can we best prepare for the coming ecological decline? In the latest edition of Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World series, scientists, policy experts, and thought leaders tackle these questions, attempting to restore meaning to sustainability as more than just a marketing tool. In State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible?, experts define clear sustainability metrics and examine various policies and perspectives, including geoengineering, corporate transformation, and changes in agricultural policy, that could put us on the path to prosperity without diminishing the well-being of future generations. If these approaches fall short, the final chapters explore ways to prepare for drastic environmental change and resource depletion, such as strengthening democracy and societal resilience, protecting cultural heritage, and dealing with increased conflict and migration flows. State of the World 2013 cuts through the rhetoric surrounding sustainability, offering a broad and realistic look at how close we are to fulfilling it today and which practices and policies will steer us in the right direction. This book will be especially useful for policymakers, environmental nonprofits, and students of environmental studies, sustainability, or economics.