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From one of the world's leading experts on the subject, a fully updated introduction to the sustainability movement from the 1600s to today
The word is nearly ubiquitous: at the grocery store we shop for "sustainable foods" that were produced from "sustainable agriculture"; groups ranging from small advocacy organizations to city and state governments to the United Nations tout "sustainable development" as a strategy for local and global stability; and woe betide the city-dweller who doesn't aim for a "sustainable lifestyle". Seeming to have come out of nowhere to dominate the discussion – from permaculture to renewable energy to the local food movement – the ideas that underlie and define sustainability can be traced back several centuries.
In this illuminating and fascinating primer, newly revised and updated, Jeremy L. Caradonna does just that, approaching sustainability from a historical perspective and revealing the conditions that gave it shape. Locating the underpinnings of the movement as far back as the 1660s, Caradonna considers the origins of sustainability across many fields throughout Europe and North America. Taking us from the emergence of thoughts guiding sustainable yield forestry in the late 17th and 18th centuries, through the challenges of the Industrial Revolution, the birth of the environmental movement, and the emergence of a concrete effort to promote a balanced approach to development in the latter half of the 20th century, he shows that while sustainability draws upon ideas of social justice, ecological economics, and environmental conservation, it is more than the sum of its parts and blends these ideas together into a dynamic philosophy.
Caradonna's book broadens our understanding of what "sustainability" means, revealing how it progressed from a relatively marginal concept to an ideal that shapes everything from individual lifestyles, government and corporate strategies, and even national and international policy. For anyone seeking understand the history of those striving to make the world a better place to live, here's a place to start.
Introduction
1. Loath This Growth: Sources of Sustainability in the Early Modern World
2. The Industrial Revolution and Its Discontents
3. Eco-Warriors: The Environmental Movement and the Growth of Ecological Wisdom, 1960s-1970s
4. Eco-Nomics
5. From Concept to Movement
6. Sustainability Today: 2000 - Present
7. The Future: 10 Challenges for Sustainability
Jeremy L. Caradonna teaches in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. He has written three books, including a book on the French Enlightenment, a guide for transitioning to organic vegetable production, and the first edition of Sustainability: A History. He is a much sought-after speaker and presenter on sustainability. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, CNN, The Narwhal, resilience.org, The Conversation Canada, The History News Network, and more.
"A superb survey of the most important concept of the 21st century. Thoughtful, cogent, and essential reading."
– David W. Orr, Oberlin College, author of Down to the Wire
"Caradonna rapidly traces a thread through centuries of thinkers and political movements. Along the way he ably documents the fact that interest in environmental quality has grown over the last three centuries and that government has as often been used to undermine environmental quality as to support it."
– EH.Net
"Perhaps best in Caradonna's book is his ability to paint vivid historical concepts in easily-understood terms. Deft writing aids Caradonna's critique of modern industrialization."
– Englewood Review of Books
"An exemplary study of an ideas long march through domains from urbanism to social justice."
– Nature
"I [...] hope this excellent book is read urgently, widely and with serious attention by everyone who might change our society."
– Food Security
