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Book reviews tagged with ‘Sustainability’
There is no question that we are addicted to fossil fuels — they are the lifeblood of our global economy and the main driver of the Second Industrial Revolution — so kicking the habit will be no easy task. As a key advisor to politicians throughout the world, Jeremy Rifkin has been working on a carbon-free alternative for over 30 years.
His new book begins with the obligatory dissection of the full crisis before us, which Rifkin describes in a nutshell as peak globalization. “We have reached the outer limits of how far we can extend global economic growth within an economic system dependent on oil and other fossil fuels,” he writes. He also cites climate change as another major threat that could be “cataclysmic” if left unchecked.
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Leonard, a self-described “systems thinker,” aims to debunk the entrenched “growth at all costs” model. She does so by discussing the materials economy and its underlying paradigm of economic growth, but opts to not lay the blame with individuals or inspire feelings of guilt. … Readers, however, should not be misled by her bubbly prose: Leonard gets to the heart of serious subjects and exposes the inter-connectedness of today’s consumption, environmental, social and economic crises.
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The serious territory is, of course, ecological sustainability, and the philosophical tone is set in the opening and closing chapters. The first essay, by David Lavigne, the book’s editor, provides a concise overview of conservation biology, sustainability and the often difficult relationship between humans and their use of natural resources.
The Ecosystem Approach: Complexity, Uncertainty, and Managing for Sustainability
The Ecosystem Approach: Complexity, Uncertainty, and Ma
naging for Sustainability
David Waltner-Toews, James J. Kay and Nina-Marie E. Lister (eds.)
New York: Columbia University Pressds
2008, 383 pages.
A copy of The Ecosystem Approach should be placed on the desk of every engineer, manager, environmentalist, politician and teacher. It is one of the first comprehensive efforts to discuss environmental management and sustainability in the interrelated fields of complexity and post-normal science (science where the facts are uncertain, the values are in dispute, the stakes are high and there is a sense of urgency – think climate change)… [Click here to read more!]
