The Principles of Sustainability / Edition 2

by Simon Dresner

Overview

At a time of increasingly rapid environmental deterioration and climate change, sustainability is one of the most important issues facing the world. Can we create a sustainable society? What would that mean? How should we set about doing it? How can we bring about such a profound change in the way things are organized? This text tackles these questions directly. It covers: historical development of the concept of sustainability; contemporary debates about how to achieve it; and obstacles and the prospects for overcoming them. This new fully revised edition covers the latest on the climate change front, particularly the advances in scientific understanding and political awareness of climate change. Other updates include more recent economic analyses, particularly the Stern Report, and the global shift away from faith in markets over the past five years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781844077069
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/28/2008
Edition description:	2
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Simon Dresner is a research fellow in the Environment Group at the Policy Studies Institute, UK.

Table of Contents

Introduction * Part I: Past * Progress and its Discontents * From Muir to Meadows * Sustainability Emerging * From Rio to Kyoto and Later Disappointments * Part Two: Present * What Does Sustainable Development Mean? * Taking Sustainability into Economics * Putting a Price on the Planet * The Ethics of Sustainability * Part Three: Future * The End of Sustainability? * Index

Editorial Reviews

'A concise overview of the past, present and future of sustainaibility.' Future Survey

'Clear [and] readable.' Oxfam

Praise for the first edition: 'A great refresher course ... It's very thorough, describing the crucial events, introducing the necessary jargon, summarizing the various points of view.' Clean Slate

'Goes beyond the rhetoric to explain the deeper issues of sustainability in a way that is accessible and interesting to the non-specialist reader.' Cultural Survival Quarterly

'Dresner does in the space of 200 pages what many other writers have failed to do in texts of far greater length. He provides a rapid fire introduction to the origins, evolution and current state of thinking on sustainability and, in doing so, he offers a combined analysis and critique.' Business Strategy and the Environment

'An entertaining, informative and sometimes downright irreverent romp through the ragged peaks and swampy hinterland of sustainability, Dresner's book deserves to be read by students, practitioners and aficionados of sustainable development alike.' Tim Jackson, Professor of Sustainable Development, University of Surrey

'Simon Dresner has succeeded in contributing a thought-provoking insight to the subject area, which is both articulate and stimulating for his readers.' Journal of Environment Assessment Policy and Management

'A valuable addition to the intellectual literature on sustainability.' The Journal of Energy and Development

From the Publisher