Sustainability Principles and Practice

by Margaret Robertson

Sustainability Principles and Practice gives an accessible and comprehensive overview of the interdisciplinary field of sustainability. The focus is on furnishing solutions and equipping students with both conceptual understanding and technical skills. Each chapter explores one aspect of the field, first introducing concepts and presenting issues, then supplying tools for working toward solutions. Elements of sustainability are examined piece by piece, and 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.

The 3rd edition includes greater coverage of resilience and systems thinking, an update on the Anthropocene as a formal geological epoch, the latest research from the IPCC, and a greater focus on diversity and social equity, together with new details such as sustainable consumption, textiles recycling, microplastics, and net-zero concepts. The coverage in this edition has been expanded to include issues, solutions, and new case studies from around the world, including Europe, Asia, and the Global South.

Chapters include further reading and discussion questions. The book is supported by a companion website with online links, annotated bibliography, glossary, white papers, and additional case studies, together with projects, research problems, and group activities, all of which focus on real-world problem-solving of sustainability issues.

This textbook is designed to be used by undergraduate college and university students in sustainability degree programs and other programs in which sustainability is taught.

Genres: Sustainability, School, Nonfiction, Environment

554 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Barbaros Yanik · Rating 5 out of 5]

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).

[Gordon Eldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Kristina Greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned a lot of amazing statistics even though the book did not hold my attention throughout the entire read.

[Jack Slaughter · Rating 3 out of 5]

read it in college years ago. important on the details but not particularly riveting

[Lancy DeAlmeida]

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