The Invention of Sustainability: Nature and Destiny, c.1500–1870

by Paul Warde

The issue of sustainability, and the idea that economic growth and development might destroy its own foundations, is one of the defining political problems of our era. This groundbreaking study traces the emergence of this idea, and demonstrates how sustainability was closely linked to hopes for growth, and the destiny of expanding European states, from the sixteenth century. Weaving together aspirations for power, for economic development and agricultural improvement, and ideas about forestry, climate, the sciences of the soil and of life itself, this book sets out how new knowledge and metrics led people to imagine both new horizons for progress, but also the possibility of collapse. In the nineteenth century, anxieties about sustainability, often driven by science, proliferated in debates about contemporary and historical empires and the American frontier. The fear of progress undoing itself confronted society with finding ways to live with and manage nature.

Genres: History

416 pages, Hardcover

Published July 12, 2018

Reviews

[Leif · Rating 3 out of 5]

A longform survey of what well-to-do European men from Germany, France, England and the United States thought about such riveting subjects as soil composition, resource efficiency, and land management. Honestly, I thought there would be much more here that was interesting. Instead, it is dull across long sections, and it shies away from too much relevance to present-day discussions of sustainability. Warde has an unfortunate habit of asserting that unnamed other writers make assumptions that he is discrediting, which isn't very useful, rhetorically speaking, although he does single out Carolyn Merchant as a particular source of disagreement about the role of Francis Bacon. Some chapters that review the simultaneous developments of state and agricultural society are enlightening but there's a lot of gear-grinding to get there.

In sum, if you assume that European governance has always been occupied by visions of living sustainably on the land until exploitative Enlightenment philosophers changed the course of history for the worse, Warde will have some useful things to say to you. Otherwise, I'm not convinced there is a broad audience for the immense technicalities presented here.

[Lisa]

This is a very readable biography of Humboldt—but includes several chapters on the scientists he influenced. It’s a great history of the 19th century and the way science was impacting politics and popular culture. It’s beautiful and includes great drawings and photos. Highly recommend.