Sustainability is among the most trafficked of terms now in the press, on university campuses, and in the corridors of government. Just what does it mean? Politicians assume a common understanding of the term, economists argue that it is a term definable within mainstream economic growth theory, ecologists insist that it requires resilience of ecosystems which can only be measured by ecologists, and environmental ethicists avow that it must rest on normative or moral principles beyond normal obligations to other humans. And ...
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Sustainability is among the most trafficked of terms now in the press, on university campuses, and in the corridors of government. Just what does it mean? Politicians assume a common understanding of the term, economists argue that it is a term definable within mainstream economic growth theory, ecologists insist that it requires resilience of ecosystems which can only be measured by ecologists, and environmental ethicists avow that it must rest on normative or moral principles beyond normal obligations to other humans. And then, well, to the general population? It may mean wind turbines, farm-to-table dining, bikes, recycling. "Sustainable Change "is a response to the disconnect between public and academic discourse around sustainability. While economists, philosophers, and ecologists argue about what in nature is valuable, and why, Norton suggests that the most practical approach is to think about the arenas in which decisions are made, and the problems that are driving them. There is not likely to be a single, bottom-line measure of what is sustainable, and even if there were, the dynamic systems involved would make any consistent singular understanding utterly elusive. Sustainability is a value concept--we will have to know what it is that is truly valuable to us if we are to know what we should sustain, and how to live sustainably.
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