Envisioning Sustainabilities

This volume is a collection of essays considering the relationship between the social sciences and sustainability studies. Contributions are drawn from a range of disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology (both scholarly and applied), political science, and media studies. It has been carefully edited to provide the reader with a range of commentaries to interrogate the evolution of ‘sustainability imaginaries’ in contexts as varied as urban planning, community gardens, bread-making, sustainable food movements in Italy, applied projects such as water projects in Bangladesh, and disaster studies. As such, this is a book which ultimately argues for the value of the social sciences in considering one of the more urgent and complex topics of our time – that of sustainability.

The evidence is increasingly persuasive. We are changing the way our planet's physical systems work--irrevocably. These changes are global and interconnected and unavoidable. They are upon us already, making it virtually impossible for any modern society to continue its present trajectory of growth. This book provides a penetrating analysis of how we have come to this point, of why science and technology will fail to solve these problems, and of how we as a society must change in order to avoid ecological catastrophe. The scope is broad, the urgency of the message is impossible to ignore.

This edited collection invites educational practitioners and theorists to speculate on - and craft visions for - the future of environmental and sustainability education. It explores what educational methods and practices might exist on the horizon, waiting for discovery and implementation. A global array of authors imagines alternative futures for the field and attempts to rethink environmental and sustainability education institutionally, intellectually, and pedagogically. These thought leaders chart how emerging modes of critical speculation might function as a means to remap and redesign the future of environmental and sustainability education today. Previous volumes within this United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development series have responded to the complexity of environmental education in our contemporary moment with concepts such as social learning, intergenerational learning, and transformative leadership for sustainable futures. 'Envisioning Futures for Environmental and Sustainability Education' builds on this earlier work - as well as the work of others. It seeks to foster modes of intellectual engagement with ecological futures in the Anthropocene; to develop resilient, adaptable pedagogies as a hedge against future ecological uncertainties; and to spark discussion concerning how futures thinking can generate theoretical and applied innovations within the field.

The evidence is increasingly persuasive. We are changing the way our planet's physical systems work—irrevocably. These changes are global and interconnected and unavoidable. They are upon us already, making it virtually impossible for any modern society to continue its present trajectory of growth. This book provides a penetrating analysis of how we have come to this point, of why science and technology will fail to solve these problems, and of how we as a society must change in order to avoid ecological catastrophe. The scope is broad, the urgency of the message is impossible to ignore.

Planet Drum Foundation-founder Berg provides a collection of the important essays that helped define the bioregional movement and established him as an icon in the environmental community.

This book systematically explores the trade and environment interests of developing countries from a Southern perspective. The contributors write explicitly about both hopes and fears in the South. Essays are from leading experts and thought leaders from various regions of the South who work for bold new agendas and priorities for their region.

European cities are contributing to the development of a more sustainable urban system that is capable of coping with economic crises, ecological challenges and social disparities in different nation-states and regions throughout Europe. This book reveals in a pluralistic way how European cities are generating new approaches to their sustainable development, and the special contribution of culture to these processes. It addresses both a deficit of attention to small and medium-sized cities in the framework of European sustainable development, and an underestimation of the role of culture, artistic expression and creativity for integrated development of the city as a prerequisite to urban sustainability. On the basis of a broad collection of case studies throughout Europe, representing a variety of regionally specific cultural models of sustainable development, the book investigates how participative culture, community arts, and more generally, creativity of civic imagination are conducive to the goal of a sustainable future of small and medium-sized cities. This is an essential volume for researchers and postgraduate students in urban studies, cultural studies, cultural geography and urban sociology as well as for policymakers and practitioners wanting to understand the specificity of European cities as hubs of innovation, creativity and artistic industriousness.

The major challenge for the current generation of mankind is to develop a shared vision of a future that is both desirable to the vast majority of humanity and ecologically sustainable. Creating a Sustainable and Desirable Future offers a broad, critical discussion on what such a future should or can be, with global perspectives written by some of the world's leading thinkers, including: Wendell Berry, Van Jones, Frances Moore Lappe, Peggy Liu, Hunter Lovins, Gus Speth, Bill McKibben, and many more. Contents:Introduction:Why We Need Visions of a Sustainable and Desirable World (Robert Costanza and Ida Kubiszewski)Envisioning a Sustainable World (Donella Meadows)Why Everyone Should Be a Futurist? (William S Becker)Think Like an Ecosystem, See Solutions (Frances Moore Lappé)Future Histories: Descriptions of a Sustainable and Desirable Future and How We Got There:What Would a Sustainable and Desirable Economy-in-Society-in-Nature Look Like? (Robert Costanza, Gar Alperovitz, Herman Daly, Joshua Farley, Carol Franco, Tim Jackson, Ida Kubiszewski, Juliet Schor, and Peter Victor)Vision Statement for the Planet in 2050 (Ajay Bhave, Silvia Ceausu, Anand Deshmukh, Jessica Jewell, Wayne Pan, and Jana Timm)Scenes from the Great Transition (Paul D Raskin)Environmental History Exam 2052: The Last Half-Century (Les W Kuzyk)A Virtual Visit to a Sustainable 2050 (Robert Costanza)Reflections on a Life Lived Well and Wisely (Joshua Farley)The Great Turnaround: How Natural Capital Entered the Economy? (Ronald Colman)How New Zealand Became a Green Leader? (John Peet)The New New York: 2050 (Barbara Elizabeth Stewart)Pieces of the Puzzle: Elements of the World We Want:Sustainability and Happiness: A Development Philosophy for Bhutan and the World (Jigmi Y Thinley)Flourishing as a Goal of International Policy (Martin Seligman)What Else? (Wendell Berry)Let Us Envision Gender Equality: Nothing Else is Working (Jane Roberts)Another World: Finally Her(e) (Kavita N Ramdas and Jamie Querubin)Policy Reform to 350 (Bill McKibben)The Great Transition to 350 (Dylan Walsh and Tess Croner)On Baselines That Need Shifting (Daniel Pauly)The Future of Roads: No Driving, No Emissions, Nature Reconnected (Richard T T Forman and Daniel Sperling)The New Security (Gary Hart)Green Accounting: Balancing Environment and Economy (Peter Bartelmus)A Vision of America the Possible (James Gustave Speth)Getting There:The Way Forward: Survival 2100 (William E Rees)An Integrating Story for a Sustainable Future (Mary Evelyn Tucker and Brian Thomas Swimme)It Is Time to Fight the Status Quo (Bill McKibben)Can We Avoid the Perfect Storm? (David W Orr)Sustainable Shrinkage: Envisioning a Smaller, Stronger Economy (Ernest Callenbach)How to Apply Resilience Thinking: In Australia and Beyond? (Brian Walker)Endangered Elements: Conserving the Building Blocks of Life (Penny D Sackett)Well-Being, Sufficiency, and Work-Time Reduction (Anders Hayden)Millennium Consumption Goals (MCGs) at Rio+20: A Practical Step Toward Global Sustainability (Mohan Munasinghe)Happiness and Psychological Well-Being: Building Human Capital to Benefit Individuals and Society (George W Burns)Time for a Bold Vision: A New, Green Economy (Van Jones)A World That Works for All (L Hunter Lovins)Fighting Poverty by Healing the Environment (Christine Loh)Re-Engineering the Planet: Three Steps to a Sustainable Free-Market Economy (Eckart Wintzen)Raising Gross National Happiness through Agroforestry (Pahuna Sharma-Laden and Croix Thompson)Building Bridges between Science and Policy to Achieve Sustainability (Katherine Richardson and Ole Wæver)Bringing Mozart to the Masses: Venezuela's Music Revolution (Maria Páez Victor)Creating the Schools of the Future: Education for a Sustainable Society (Peter M Senge)A Values-Based Set of Solutions for the Next Generation (Tim Kasser)Teaching a University Course in Sustainable Happiness (Catherine O'Brien)The Time Has Come to Catalyze a Sustainable Consumerism Movement (Peggy Liu) Readership: Undergraduates, professionals, researchers, and anyone interested in what a sustainable and desirable future might look like. Keywords:Envisioning;Sustainable Future;Desirable Future;Positive Future;Future History;Scenarios;World ViewsKey Features:This book has an outstanding list of contributors who are world thought leaders. Their views on what a sustainable and desirable future would look like will be highly sought afterThis is an outstanding collection on a topic of great interest to many people, but on which there has been little written, especially in book formReviews: “The book is a compilation of thoughtful articles from a broad range of academics, research scientists, policy specialists, politicians and others — thinkers all.” Australasian Journal of Environmental Management