Sustainability in Question The Search for a Conceptual Framework

About this book

Exploring approaches to sustainability by linking the economy, society and the environment, this book uses concepts of sustainability from the physical and social sciences to develop a framework for creating policies. It aims to shed light on the ability of humans to create institutional and social arrangements which are able to adapt to changing conditions. The authors consider the state of environmental and institutional sustainability within the context of economic and activity and public policy. They recognize that some of the basic economic notions such as universal substitutability, methodological individualism and the superiority of the price mechanism may be misplaced in the case of environmental protection.

Contents

Part 1 Introduction: the imperative of sustainability, Jorg Kohn et al. Part 2 Conceptual framework revised: sustainability concepts - from theory to practice, Melinda Kane; what type of economic theory dealing with the environment do we need? Jan van der Straaten; principles of sustainability - protection, investment, co-operation, and innovation, Thomas Sikor, Richard B. Norgaard; hierarchies in human affairs -microfoundations and environmental sustainability, John Gowdy; system hierarchy, change and sustainability, Jorg Kohn; organising diversity, Joachim Schutz; throughput, scale, material input, Fred Luks; reflections upon the role of moral sentiments in economics, Clive L. Spash. Part 3 Sustainable production: environmental and economic benefits of sustainable agriculture, David Pimentel; balancing private rights and public interests - lessons from Pacific salmon and global fishery crises, Bruce Rettig; firms and dematerialization, Julia Haake et al; sustainability pollutants and multiple targets - the case of tropospheric ozone and acidification in Europe, Ekko van Ierland, Erik C. Schmieman. Part 4 Sustainable consumption: consumer behaviour - a modelling perspective in the context of integrated assessment of global change, Wander Jager et al; some themes in the discussion of the quality of life, Inge Ropke; sustainable consumption - a research agenda, Friedrich Hinterberger et al. Part 5 Sustainability and political economy: politics and economics in relation to environment and development - on participation and responsibility in the conceptual framework of economics, Peter Soderbaum; a distributional barrier to ecological modernisation, Frank J. Dietz, Jan van der Straaten; some methodological reflections - a plea for a constitutional ecological economics, Andreas Renner.

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