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Sustainability: A History
The word is nearly at the grocery store we shop for "sustainable foods" that were produced from "sustainable agriculture"; groups ranging from small advocacy organizations to city and state governments to the United Nations tout "sustainable development" as a strategy for local and global stability; and woe betide the city-dweller who doesn't aim for a "sustainable lifestyle." Seeming to have come out of nowhere to dominate the discussion-from permaculture to renewable energy to the local food movement-the ideas that underlie and define sustainability can be traced back several centuries.
In this illuminating and fascinating primer, Jeremy L. Caradonna does just that, approaching sustainability from a historical perspective and revealing the conditions that gave it shape. Locating the underpinnings of the movement as far back as the 1660s, Caradonna considers the origins of sustainability across many fields throughout Europe and North America. Taking us from the emergence of thoughts guiding sustainable yield forestry in the late 17th and 18th centuries, through the challenges of the Industrial Revolution, the birth of the environmental movement, and the emergence of a concrete effort to promote a balanced approach to development in the latter half of the 20th century, he shows that while sustainability draws upon ideas of social justice, ecological economics, and environmental conservation, it is more than the sum of its parts and blends these ideas together into a dynamic philosophy.
Caradonna's book broadens our understanding of what "sustainability" means, revealing how it progressed from a relatively marginal concept to an ideal that shapes everything from individual lifestyles, government and corporate strategies, and even national and international policy. For anyone seeking understand the history of those striving to make the world a better place to live, here's a place to start.
In this illuminating and fascinating primer, Jeremy L. Caradonna does just that, approaching sustainability from a historical perspective and revealing the conditions that gave it shape. Locating the underpinnings of the movement as far back as the 1660s, Caradonna considers the origins of sustainability across many fields throughout Europe and North America. Taking us from the emergence of thoughts guiding sustainable yield forestry in the late 17th and 18th centuries, through the challenges of the Industrial Revolution, the birth of the environmental movement, and the emergence of a concrete effort to promote a balanced approach to development in the latter half of the 20th century, he shows that while sustainability draws upon ideas of social justice, ecological economics, and environmental conservation, it is more than the sum of its parts and blends these ideas together into a dynamic philosophy.
Caradonna's book broadens our understanding of what "sustainability" means, revealing how it progressed from a relatively marginal concept to an ideal that shapes everything from individual lifestyles, government and corporate strategies, and even national and international policy. For anyone seeking understand the history of those striving to make the world a better place to live, here's a place to start.
331 pages, Hardcover
First published July 2, 2014
59 people are currently reading
597 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
June 20, 2016
Helpful review of the history of Sustainability... but definitely not agnostic. Definitely tries to sell the necessity/inevitability of a switch to a low-growth, no-growth, or de-growth economy. Please, SOMEONE tell me how they plan to do that (and who is expected to enforce this)? Am I missing something here, or would this enforced no-growth or de-growth devastate financial markets? A lot of people seek growth over varying time horizons... in order to invest... in order to generate income and grow savings (this is the only way I'll be able to retire, btw). I'm just not quite sure how we tell the whole system to stop what it's doing and give up the idea of growing because it's the nice thing to do. But I'm very willing to be wrong about this, so please send someone my way to explain how this would be implemented and what the implications would be.
This is not the entirety of the message of the book or the Sustainability field/movement, but I can't help but get hung up on it.
This is not the entirety of the message of the book or the Sustainability field/movement, but I can't help but get hung up on it.
August 27, 2020
Useful and interesting history of sustainability, putting the current state of things in context and showing how various different schools of thought came together to form the more cohesive movement of today. I really enjoyed the earlier stuff in particular, which was more a history of the concept, and there were some incredibly prescient warnings from surprising sources! I was a bit surprised the Charter of the Forest didn't get a mention though, especially when there was so much about early attempts to protect forests.
This felt phenomenally well-researched and thoroughly referenced (the end came as a bit of a shock because the notes and bibliography were so thick!), but in a few places it did feel a bit dense and dry, so it was possibly a bit overzealous on the rigour, at the cost of some readability. On the whole it was very insightful and I can see it being a useful resource that I dip into from time to time.
This felt phenomenally well-researched and thoroughly referenced (the end came as a bit of a shock because the notes and bibliography were so thick!), but in a few places it did feel a bit dense and dry, so it was possibly a bit overzealous on the rigour, at the cost of some readability. On the whole it was very insightful and I can see it being a useful resource that I dip into from time to time.
December 23, 2023
one of my favorite books on this topic
November 14, 2015
This is not a history. That should not keep you from reading it. The book is more like a bibliographical essay or it could be called "Sustainability: A Review." There are definitely times when Caradonna moves from overview of the scholarly landscape of sustainability to personal opinion, which in his case includes some clear expressions of distain. But for those interested in the topic, this is an excellent resource and guide.
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May 3, 2022I feel like I would be unfair to give this book a rating because I didn’t make it to the end before my library due date. I want to read more about sustainability- I just didn’t really like this book. I was expecting to read a history of sustainability, but it felt a little more like the author’s opinions on various issues of sustainability, and a very broad overview of some of the history. If you, my goodreads friends, have book recommendations on this topic, I would LOVE to read them!!
September 3, 2014
There is so much banter about sustainability. The word is used so often that its meaning has been diluted. Thank you Jeremy Caradonna for going into the history and sharing a complete understanding in an easy to read book, that I will remember enough to quote.
June 19, 2022
Jak nauczyć się do egzaminu i nie zasnąć
April 6, 2018
A very useful resource in sustainability. I took quite a while to get through this book, as it was so dense with references and ideas that I then wanted to go away and research.
This book will remain on my shelves for some time to come as a source of inspiration and the seeds for further research on multiple topics related to sustainability. Jeremy Caradonna has done a stirling job of bringing together the historical threads of environmental concern, from the start of the Industrial Revolution, through to the present day, and in highlighting the successes and challenges along the way.
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand the concept of sustainability in depth.
The only thing I strongly disagreed with in the book was his assertion that sustainability should be apolitical. There is no way that the sustainability project will come to fruition without strong government economic intervention via investment in the much-needed public goods to enable it, policies to address inequality, and more and better targeted regulation of the private sector, combined with significant grassroots community action, all of which are associated with the politics of the left. The right will always push towards less government spending, less regulation, and an individualistic orientation which undermines the cooperative effort needed to address our ecological challenges in the rapid timeframe required.
The author also evidently does not understand the capacity of currency-issuing governments to finance investments without FISCAL constraints, as he asks “where will the money come from?” for them to do this. It’s simple - it will come from the government just spending the money into the economy, as it always does. Currency-issuing governments do not need to tax first to get the fiscal resources to spend, and in practice this is not how it works. The only constraint is inflation, which is determined by the productive capacity of the economy to absorb the extra funding. Most developed countries (probably all) have the idle resources and productive capacity to make the transition required: what’s needed is the will from governments. With developing countries it’s a bit more complicated, but with the right support from the international community they can do it too.
This book will remain on my shelves for some time to come as a source of inspiration and the seeds for further research on multiple topics related to sustainability. Jeremy Caradonna has done a stirling job of bringing together the historical threads of environmental concern, from the start of the Industrial Revolution, through to the present day, and in highlighting the successes and challenges along the way.
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand the concept of sustainability in depth.
The only thing I strongly disagreed with in the book was his assertion that sustainability should be apolitical. There is no way that the sustainability project will come to fruition without strong government economic intervention via investment in the much-needed public goods to enable it, policies to address inequality, and more and better targeted regulation of the private sector, combined with significant grassroots community action, all of which are associated with the politics of the left. The right will always push towards less government spending, less regulation, and an individualistic orientation which undermines the cooperative effort needed to address our ecological challenges in the rapid timeframe required.
The author also evidently does not understand the capacity of currency-issuing governments to finance investments without FISCAL constraints, as he asks “where will the money come from?” for them to do this. It’s simple - it will come from the government just spending the money into the economy, as it always does. Currency-issuing governments do not need to tax first to get the fiscal resources to spend, and in practice this is not how it works. The only constraint is inflation, which is determined by the productive capacity of the economy to absorb the extra funding. Most developed countries (probably all) have the idle resources and productive capacity to make the transition required: what’s needed is the will from governments. With developing countries it’s a bit more complicated, but with the right support from the international community they can do it too.
December 3, 2023
I always preface reading books with a quick investigation into the author (especially if their book concerns recent history). When I visited Dr. Caradonna’s website, one piece of his bio leapt off the screen at me. Dr. Caradonna considers himself a citizen of the Republic of Cascadia. I had never heard of this land so of course I had to do a little digging. Cascadia is a fictional region in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and parts of western Canada that push for secession in response to climate change and politics. With this information, it was hard to take Dr. Caradonna seriously but I read his words as objectively as I could.
In Sustainability: A History, Caradonna seeks to record the history of the concept and movement of sustainability as it relates to environmental issues and what role humans have played and should play moving forward. He wastes no time revealing his bias as someone who believes climate change is a man made issue to which I largely agree. What Caradonna does a good job of is showing that concern of sustainability reaches back to the 18th century. He also lays out pretty clearly that human manipulation of fossil fuels has had an effect on sustainability and climate change. What Caradonna doesn’t do a good job of is exploring natural causes of climate change. I felt the book merely scratched the surface on that front.
I would also like to point out that as much as Caradonna insists that we should be doing more, he doesn't celebrate the work that has been done with much diligence. It would have been more compelling had Caradonna spent more time in his book calling out the nations that continue to do little to nothing concerning climate change. This is a global effort and it doesn’t matter how much (or little) work the U.S. does if the world’s biggest contributors to climate change in other countries do nothing more than erect LEED-certified buildings. I want to state that I’m a huge proponent for sustainability and protecting our environment, but sustainability is a huge money-making industry and the bias can be harmful to seeing real results. Now I’ll be on the lookout for a centrist history although I doubt I’ll find one. It wouldn’t make enough money.
In Sustainability: A History, Caradonna seeks to record the history of the concept and movement of sustainability as it relates to environmental issues and what role humans have played and should play moving forward. He wastes no time revealing his bias as someone who believes climate change is a man made issue to which I largely agree. What Caradonna does a good job of is showing that concern of sustainability reaches back to the 18th century. He also lays out pretty clearly that human manipulation of fossil fuels has had an effect on sustainability and climate change. What Caradonna doesn’t do a good job of is exploring natural causes of climate change. I felt the book merely scratched the surface on that front.
I would also like to point out that as much as Caradonna insists that we should be doing more, he doesn't celebrate the work that has been done with much diligence. It would have been more compelling had Caradonna spent more time in his book calling out the nations that continue to do little to nothing concerning climate change. This is a global effort and it doesn’t matter how much (or little) work the U.S. does if the world’s biggest contributors to climate change in other countries do nothing more than erect LEED-certified buildings. I want to state that I’m a huge proponent for sustainability and protecting our environment, but sustainability is a huge money-making industry and the bias can be harmful to seeing real results. Now I’ll be on the lookout for a centrist history although I doubt I’ll find one. It wouldn’t make enough money.
September 28, 2021
Los ensayos sobre los objetivos para nuestro verde futuro suelen ser bastante decepcionantes, sensacionalistas en general y poco concisos. Suelen, en vez de ser informativos, generar un contraste emocional (o adviertes que el problema del cambio climático es nuestro fin, que si no actúas ya mismo tu perro se va a morir de cáncer mañana; o bien promulgan un precioso futuro contándote cómo vamos a conseguir desarrollar la tecnología para controlar las estrellas y no sé qué más...).
Este libro es académico, pero no renuncia a lanzar datos suculentos, alertar a la población o impresionar con las toneladas de CO2 a la semana que Dios sabe lo que significará. De hecho se lanza a rechazar importantes aportes a la transición energética como la energía nuclear con argumentos sacados de Greenpeace, flaquea en explicar lo que es la economía circular y se hace increíblemente eurocentrico tanto en las maneras de solucionar nuestro problema (global) como con las ya existentes acciones y proyectos de beneficios sociales y ambientales.
Dicho esto, el libro trata puntos importantísimos sobre el problema de la sostenibilidad: el componente de bienestar social; el eje de la reducción del consumo frente a las preciosas luces de esperanza que nos parecen las energías renovables de por sí; los desarrollos ideológicos para entender la sostenibilidad hoy en día; por supuesto el importantísimo concepto de economía de estancamiento o decrecimiento como proyectos de futuro; o un listado bastante útil de mediciones económicas que sustituyan al desfasado GDP (Gross domestic profit) y que pongan en el foco a la comunidad y el medio frente al beneficio.
Todo esto hacen que cumpla lo que prometa con buenas intenciones, visualizaciones útiles de lo que debe significar nuestro futuro económico, social y medioambiental, y por ello merece su huequito en la biblioteca de sostenibilidad.
Este libro es académico, pero no renuncia a lanzar datos suculentos, alertar a la población o impresionar con las toneladas de CO2 a la semana que Dios sabe lo que significará. De hecho se lanza a rechazar importantes aportes a la transición energética como la energía nuclear con argumentos sacados de Greenpeace, flaquea en explicar lo que es la economía circular y se hace increíblemente eurocentrico tanto en las maneras de solucionar nuestro problema (global) como con las ya existentes acciones y proyectos de beneficios sociales y ambientales.
Dicho esto, el libro trata puntos importantísimos sobre el problema de la sostenibilidad: el componente de bienestar social; el eje de la reducción del consumo frente a las preciosas luces de esperanza que nos parecen las energías renovables de por sí; los desarrollos ideológicos para entender la sostenibilidad hoy en día; por supuesto el importantísimo concepto de economía de estancamiento o decrecimiento como proyectos de futuro; o un listado bastante útil de mediciones económicas que sustituyan al desfasado GDP (Gross domestic profit) y que pongan en el foco a la comunidad y el medio frente al beneficio.
Todo esto hacen que cumpla lo que prometa con buenas intenciones, visualizaciones útiles de lo que debe significar nuestro futuro económico, social y medioambiental, y por ello merece su huequito en la biblioteca de sostenibilidad.
June 27, 2022
Currently reading.
Many sustainability books focus either on analyzing the breadth of current sustainability topics or drill deep into a topic area. This book is unique for it applied the time dimension in examining the development of sustainability topics, public sentiment, and activists' involvement throughout time.
For instance, the author documented the environmental protection activism in the 1960s by discussing spurring public concern over toxic chemicals threatening wild bird species to a degree of distinction.
It is refreshing to look into what the generation before us has done to advocate for change and facilitate civic engagement over sustainability. On the other hand, realizing so many generations have been working on the issue yet the society hasn't reached a consensus over fundamental sustainlity issues is sobering.
Many sustainability books focus either on analyzing the breadth of current sustainability topics or drill deep into a topic area. This book is unique for it applied the time dimension in examining the development of sustainability topics, public sentiment, and activists' involvement throughout time.
For instance, the author documented the environmental protection activism in the 1960s by discussing spurring public concern over toxic chemicals threatening wild bird species to a degree of distinction.
It is refreshing to look into what the generation before us has done to advocate for change and facilitate civic engagement over sustainability. On the other hand, realizing so many generations have been working on the issue yet the society hasn't reached a consensus over fundamental sustainlity issues is sobering.
March 2, 2023
I listened to the original version of this book, and it was a good historical account of the history of the word sustainability. I found the most interesting parts to be about forestry and how indigenous people were aware of protecting the Earth's resources. It's interesting how during most centuries individuals have been concerned about the future of the planet, from all different political parties, religions, etc., and all for different reasons.
I was not sold on the 10-step solution as I found it to be oversimplified and not entirely practical, and though Caradonna states that he's mainly focused on the West in this book, I think by excluding the rest of the world he leaves out essential voices and influences in the story of sustainability, making this a partial history of sustainability.
I was not sold on the 10-step solution as I found it to be oversimplified and not entirely practical, and though Caradonna states that he's mainly focused on the West in this book, I think by excluding the rest of the world he leaves out essential voices and influences in the story of sustainability, making this a partial history of sustainability.
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December 21, 2020Rage.
I. Am. Enraged.
This book, among many other things, traces the history of the Sustainability movement, its philosophical roots in thinking at the Industrial Revolution. It's been mostly suppressed, in favour of our productivist model and to give greed, money, power a wide berth.
There are still informed, knowledgeable and educated people that saw doubt about the necessity to change our society fundamentally.
I. Am. Enraged.
This book, among many other things, traces the history of the Sustainability movement, its philosophical roots in thinking at the Industrial Revolution. It's been mostly suppressed, in favour of our productivist model and to give greed, money, power a wide berth.
There are still informed, knowledgeable and educated people that saw doubt about the necessity to change our society fundamentally.
May 4, 2020
Parts of this book were interesting. However It read like a history book for the first few chapters, and was very challenging to get through. I gave up on page 115.
I skipped ahead to the last chapter, #7 the future: 10 challenges for sustainability. That chapter was full of information and interesting thoughts on how to proceed for a more sustainable world.
I skipped ahead to the last chapter, #7 the future: 10 challenges for sustainability. That chapter was full of information and interesting thoughts on how to proceed for a more sustainable world.
December 26, 2020
This became a mountain to climb. It's not the history that I would have written, and it sure doesn't make the right move in attempting to coin the word "sustainers" which is awful and ugly, but it does hit many of the right marks otherwise.
July 24, 2017
Useful intellectual history of the idea of sustainability.
Want to read
January 3, 2021Bookclub - Going Zero Waste - 2020, 03 Mar - 04 Apr
January 30, 2022
A thorough book on the history of sustainability. Would be great for research when writing about sustainability, is a little too thorough for casual reading (which is what I did).
April 12, 2023
Una molt bona introducció als orígens de la sostenibilitat, al concepte actual i les perspectives futures.
December 2, 2023
Read for class. Was informative but better than reading a textbook!
November 26, 2021
I read this book for extra knowledge apart from my Sustainability Environmental Development subject. Would recommend!
August 27, 2015
Disclaimer: I received a free digital ARC of this book from NetGalley for reviewing purposes.
Sustainability is a fairly comprehensive view of "green living" all the way back to the 17th century and thing brings us full circle back to the goals and problems we face in the future.
Although the author explains his reasoning behind starting with "early modern times" I really would have liked to learn about the concept of sustainability in earlier times, because the ones he mentioned seem really interesting.
Caradonna knows his stuff. The text is engaging, informative, and contains plenty of lists, timelines, and charts to break up the blocks of text and illustrate things differently. He is a professor that I would love to have for a lecture.
An added bonus: the book is actually only about 250 pages when you don't count all of those pesky title pages that publishers include and then the resource pages at the end.
Sustainability is a fairly comprehensive view of "green living" all the way back to the 17th century and thing brings us full circle back to the goals and problems we face in the future.
Although the author explains his reasoning behind starting with "early modern times" I really would have liked to learn about the concept of sustainability in earlier times, because the ones he mentioned seem really interesting.
Caradonna knows his stuff. The text is engaging, informative, and contains plenty of lists, timelines, and charts to break up the blocks of text and illustrate things differently. He is a professor that I would love to have for a lecture.
An added bonus: the book is actually only about 250 pages when you don't count all of those pesky title pages that publishers include and then the resource pages at the end.
February 28, 2016
Sustainability is the next big frontier in our businesses and lives. The book tells the story of the first sustainability efforts in 17th century Germany to what the world is today. It is of course a book against our current way of life at home or at work raising doubts on how we can continue to function. The book reads at times a little lengthy as it contains summaries on some of the most important agreements in the world related to sustainability, but it is a good primer on what sustainability is presented in a very factual way without the inflammatory remarks the topic would allow being placed.
November 9, 2014
A very important book! Caradonna explores why we just don't seem to take the environment seriously. This book causes anxiety and a bit of optimism. It is time to wake up! Read more at: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.
October 27, 2015
The book is simple in its approach. It doesn't talk about 'How to save the world' etc. It just puts the facts in places. It will be an interesting read considering you might not have thought Sustainability could have been applied in various contexts across generations from farmers to landlords to economists and even to leaders from the French revolution
October 3, 2016
Overall, a very good read, informative, instructive. There may be some "liberal bias" here but it doesn't clutter the book - take it for what it is and move on with insights gained.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews