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.
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.