The Principles of Sustainability [Paperback]

Simon Dresner (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 185383842X | ISBN-13: 978-1853838422 | Publication Date: October 2002

At a time of increasingly rapid environmental deterioration, sustainability is the most important issue facing the world today. Can we create a sustainable society? What would that mean? How should we go about doing it? How can we bring about such a profound change in the way things are organized? This book tackles these questions directly. It goes beyond rhetoric about "sustainable development" to explain the deeper issues in a way that is accessible and interesting to the non-specialist reader. It covers the development of the concept of sustainability within its broader historical context; the contemporary debates about what sustainability implies and how to achieve it; and the obstacles to reaching the goal and prospects for overcoming them.

This book will be invaluable to students, academics and activists concerned with the topics of sustainability and sustainable development.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The definitive guide to the campaigner's arts, a magisterial A to Z of how to win hearts and minds. Those without the time to read it from cover to cover will still find plenty to intrigue and enlighten them. The book should also be required reading in C

About the Author

Simon Dresner is a research fellow and lecturer at the University of Surrey. He is coordinator of a five-nation European research project on tax reform.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Earthscan Publications Ltd. (October 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185383842X
• ISBN-13: 978-1853838422
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,526,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What we always need to know about Sustainability, June 10, 2006

By 

Denison Van Uye "Dennis van UYE" (France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Principles of Sustainability (Paperback)

This book is a must for anyone that is interested in Sustainability. It takes the reader through all the history and tries to give as much neccessary background information as possible to get the big picture on each historical event and milestone. Allthough the author sometimes becomes a bit too subjective, he doesn't impose a view and tries more to inform. Definitely a book worth having for references on Sustainability events.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Heavy reading, March 6, 2011

By 

Green girl - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Principles of Sustainability (Paperback)

This book will especially appeal to people with a lot of knowledge in economic theory. It is very heavy reading and as an educated reader, but not a PhD economist, I had a hard time to push my way through. I had planned to use the book as a text to a community college general interest course in Sustainability, but it would be way over the heads of all but the most advanced economics students.

After these warnings, I am happy to have forced myself to keep going. This books shows how the whole question of sustainability is very complex and call into question the very basis of our economic systems. Mostly people use "sustainability" in a way to make everyone feel good about what they are doing. Look at the number of college courses that have had to add "sustainable" in their title. It ends up not meaning much at all. This books brings us face to face with hard questions we don't like to face. I'm not sure what we can do about it, but it is good to have to at least think about these questions and to learn what some deep thinking economists have proposed.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for Referencing, February 3, 2011

By 

Frank Roettgers "Author of Going Green Together" (Frankfurt, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Principles of Sustainability (Paperback)

With "The Principles of Sustainability" Dresner wrote a great resource for everyone who wants to know what sustainability is, where as well as when it emerged, and where it might go. Especially for researchers this book offers plenty of well researched facts about the history of sustainability and how it became the concept that it is today.

After reading many guides on how to become sustainable I found it quite refreshing to read this book. Especially the first chapter about the history of sustainability made me think about how the evolution of sustainability still influences today's business practices and how we seem to diverge from the original idea. Reading Dresner's work reminds you of the basics of sustainability and causes you to re-think about the big sustainability manifestos out there such as "The Ecology of Commerce". Although I think that chapter three about the future of sustainability is a bit brief and better outlined in other books, I enjoyed the read and would recommend it to everyone who likes to take a step back before taking two steps ahead.

- Frank Roettgers, author of Going Green Together - How to Align Employees with Green Strategies