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Sustainability Principles and Practice

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Sustainability Principles and Practice gives an accessible and comprehensive overview of the interdisciplinary field of sustainability. The focus is on furnishing solutions and equipping the student with both conceptual understanding and technical skills for the workplace. Each chapter explores one aspect of the field, first introducing relevant theory and presenting issues, then supplying tools for working toward solutions. Elements of sustainability are examined piece by piece, and wide coverage ranges over ecosystems, social equity, environmental justice, food, energy, product life cycles, cities, and more. Techniques for management and measurement as well as case studies from around the world are provided. Chapters include further reading, discussion questions, and problems to foster quantitative thinking. The book is supported by a companion website with key website links, detailed reading lists, glossary, and additional case studies, together with numerous projects, research problems, and group activities, all of which focus on real-world problem solving of sustainability issues. The textbook is designed to be used by undergraduate college and university students in sustainability degree programs and other programs in which sustainability is taught.

392 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

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About the author

Margaret Robertson

55 books1 follower

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5 stars
31 (35%)
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Profile Image for Barbaros Yanik.
2 reviews1 follower
October 8, 2020
A very nice summary of sustainability in all aspects. Provides a good bibliography on the subject and the book is relatively up to date (2017).
Profile Image for Gordon Eldridge.
175 reviews5 followers
February 28, 2022
This book truly gives a comprehensive overview of sustainability issues. It begins with a couple of chapters which explain the earth as a system and what contributes to its long-term sustainability as a system. The remainder of the book is a survey of the various issues surrounding human interaction with the environment - waste, energy, products, cities, ecosystems, water etc etc. Each chapter outlines the major problems related to a the issue in question and the solutions currently being tried or experimented with. The explanations are clear and succinct and the writing is therefore generally very easy to understand, even for the non-expert. I bought the book as preparatory reading to teach a grade 10 on sustainability and could not have made a better choice. I found the book highly informative and an enjoyable read.
Profile Image for Công Anh (Cat).
42 reviews2 followers
August 31, 2019
Extremely helpful for anyone interested in the Sustainability professions, especially the part II of the book that listed the issues and solutions of modern sustainability. The solutions presented in this book is a lot more practical than in other books of the same type. The information is also presented from different perspective and disciplines, ranging from physics to social studies and thus, this book is catered to a more general audience.
Profile Image for Kristina Bartholomew.
78 reviews
April 20, 2020
Learned a lot of amazing statistics even though the book did not hold my attention throughout the entire read.
46 reviews
October 6, 2025
read it in college years ago. important on the details but not particularly riveting
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews

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