Sustainability: The Basics

Description

Sustainability is concerned with the issues around the ongoing and mutual preservation of both society and the environment. It is a widely used term and supposed goal for many governments but it is also easily misunderstood. Sustainability: The Basics offers an accessible and interdisciplinary introduction to the concept, and discusses key questions such as:

• How do we decide who or what should be sustained?


• How can we ensure that the world's resources are distributed fairly?


• What lessons can we learn from the collapse of previous civilizations?

Sustainability studies is in a position to ask some of the most interesting questions about human purpose, identity, modernity, ethics, and the nature of "progress". This book is an ideal starting point for anyone who wants to know more about we can 'hold up' civilization, humanity, and the world we live in.

Promotion info

This book offers an accessible and interdisciplinary introduction to the concept of sustainability, and answers key questions about the subject.

Author description

Peter Jacques is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Central Florida and is currently the Sustainability Faculty Fellow.

Table of contents

Introduction  1. Sustainability: What is at Stake?  2. The principles of Sustainability 3. Endurance and Ruin: An Economic Memoire  4. Measuring Sustainability  5. Ethics, Justice, Moral Order and Oblivion  6. Politics at the End of the World  7. The Collapse of Civilizations and Dark Ages  8. Conclusion  Glossary  References