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Sustainable Development and the Limitation of Growth

Future Prospects for World Civilization

  • Book
  • © 2009

Overview

  • Addresses one of the most urgent and critical problems of our civilization
  • Highlights the importance of global environmental stability
  • Shows humanity its real place in the natural environment
  • Emphasizes the gravity of the ecological threat before us
  • Demonstrates the need to move from modern industrial thinking to new ecological thinking
  • Takes a holistic approach to the global economic crisis
  • Contends that sustainability is achievable only on a global scale and cannot be regionalized or isolated
  • Portrays the economic, social and ethical consequences of the violation of biospherical laws
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Springer Praxis Books (PRAXIS)

Part of the book sub series: Environmental Sciences (ENVIRONSCI)

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Table of contents (20 chapters)

  1. Civilization in crisis: On the edge of an abyss

  2. Civilization teetering over the abyss of crisis (conclusion)

  3. Sustainable development: Between complacency and reality

  4. On the scale of a scientific approach

Keywords

About this book

2007 marked the 20th anniversary of the G.H.Brundtland Commission report that broke new ground by addressing the issue of sustainable development as a means of avoiding an ecological catastrophe. This led to a multitude of political declarations, documents and scientific articles while Agenda 21 – adopted in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro – has been accepted by the governments of more than 100 countries. Sadly, however, this has not prevented certain recent dangerous trends, nor have the wider public, journalists, business circles or politicians grasped the urgency of the problem. It is therefore important to make humanity understand its real place in the natural environment and the gravity of the ecological threat before us.

The exclusive role of natural ecosystems is a key factor in the maintenance of the biospheric equilibrium. The current global crisis is largely caused by their dramatic decline by 43% in the past hundred years. Ignoring the immutable laws and limitations which determine the existence of all living things in the biosphere could lead humanity to an ecological catastrophe. This book presents the ecological, demographic, economic and socio-psychological manifestations of the global crisis and outlines the immutable laws and limitations which determine the existence of all living things in the biosphere.

Reviews

From the reviews:

"This timely, well-organized book provides intriguing insights into the 21st-century plight of the human-built and natural worlds. Danilov-Danil’yan and Losev (both, Russian Academy of Sciences) and Reyf (German journalist) argue that the direct dependence of people on critical ecosystem services requires … social, psychological, and economic trends that underpin the problem. The book’s six parts aptly reveal the breath and depth of the analysis … . Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries." (P. R. Pinet, Choice, Vol. 46 (11), July, 2009)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    Victor I. Danilov-Danil’yan

  • Water Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    Victor I. Danilov-Danil’yan

  • All Russian Institute of Scientific & Technical Information, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    Kim S. Losev

  • Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Igor E. Reyf

Bibliographic Information

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