Suchergebnisse

Introduction -- Sustainability and time -- The geography of sustainability -- Ecological resilience and environmental health -- Technological solutions and their problems -- The political and legal challenge -- Sustaining economies -- Culture and change -- Conclusion

"Sustainability as a reference frame for dealing with the interconnection of environmental, economic and social issues on a global scale is not only characterized by complex problems and long-term strategies but also by differences and disagreements with regard to its meanings and how they should be realised. Therefore, Rather than seeking a single most appropriate definition of Sustainability, the main focus of this book is on how specific Sustainability problems are defined by whom and in which contexts, what solutions are pursued to tackle them, and which effects they have in practice. This account of the social nature of Sustainability is intended to assist its readers to better understand the complexities, dynamism, and ambivalence of this concept as well as to find their own position in relation to it. For this purpose, the book traces the historical development of the larger discourse on Sustainability and investigates responses to three grand Sustainability challenges: climate change, energy, and agricultural food production. It suggests that promoting Sustainability requires continuous and active care and is inseparable from political debate about the normative foundations of society"--Provided by publisher

1. Introduction -- 2. Sustainability : a technical and normative endeavor -- 3. Index theory -- 4. Comparative ethics for sustainability -- 5. An ethical examination of sustainability indexes -- 6. Environmental justice: a resource for sustainability indexes? -- 7. Aggregating local indicators -- 8. Ethics in sustainability indexes.

"Die Nachhaltigkeitsdiskussion ist durch zunehmende Zerfaserung und Konturlosigkeit gekennzeichnet. Dieses ursprünglich aus der Debatte um den langfristigen Umgang mit unseren natürlichen Lebensgrundlagen entstandenen Konzept droht dabei, seinen Kern zu verlieren. Im Anschluss an eine Beschreibung der Nachhaltigkeitsdiskussion innerhalb der Wissenschaft in Deutschland wird die eigentliche Kontroverse zwischen dem Konzept schwacher und starker Nachhaltigkeit dargestellt. Nachdem Kriterien für eine rationale Wahl zwischen den beiden Konzepten diskutiert werden, wird die Wahl eines Konzeptes gerechtfertigt. Im Anschluss daran werden weiterführende Fragestellungen formuliert und es werden einige Konsequenzen der Wahl einer Konzeption starker Nachhaltigkeit dargelegt." (Autorenreferat)