Linking Industry and Ecology

• Description
• Images (1)
• Author Bio

"Linking Industry and Ecology" explores the origins, promise, and relevance of the emerging field of industrial ecology. Its aims are threefold. First, it reminds us that humans, their products, their industries, and their communities draw resources from and discard waste back into the same biophysical environment, often at unsustainable rates. Thus, it serves to educate people about the nature of the emerging concept and field of industrial ecology. Second, the book situates industrial ecology within the broader range of environmental management strategies and concepts, from more shallow approaches such as pollution prevention through life cycle management to deeper practices such as dematerialization and ecological design. Third, it provides a compelling argument for the need to think ecologically to develop innovative and competitive industrial policy. The contributors to this collection draw on their experience in a variety of disciplines to chart a broader path for industrial ecology.

This path affirms what has been learned to date in this nascent field but seeks to inform a discourse that has been dominated by natural scientists and engineers with insights that recognize that technologies are socially and politically embedded. This book will be of interest to educators and students in environmental studies, business management, environmental and industrial engineering, and environmental planning. While many of the examples are drawn from Canada, it will also appeal to readers interested in fostering ecologically sustainable industrial and community development in other industrializing and industrialized nations.