Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

State of the World 2014

Governing for Sustainability

  • Book
  • © 2014
  • Latest edition

Overview

Authors:
  1. Worldwatch Institute

    1. Worldwatch Institute, Washington District of Columbia, USA

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Informed by the policy and research experience of the Worldwatch Institute
  • Contributors are renowned international experts in their fields
  • Foreword by David W. Orr

Part of the book series: State of the World (STWO)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (22 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxiv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Failing Governance, Unsustainable Planet

      • Michael Renner, Tom Prugh
      Pages 3-19

    3. Understanding Governance

      • D. Conor Seyle, Matthew Wilburn King
      Pages 20-28

  3. Political Governance

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 29-29
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Governance, Sustainability, and Evolution

      • John M. Gowdy
      Pages 31-40

    3. Ecoliteracy: Knowledge Is Not Enough

      • Monty Hempel
      Pages 41-52

    4. Digitization and Sustainability

      • Richard Worthington
      Pages 53-62

    5. Living in the Anthropocene: Business as Usual, or Compassionate Retreat?

      • Peter G. Brown, Jeremy J. Schmidt
      Pages 63-71

    6. Governing People as Members of the Earth Community

      • Cormac Cullinan
      Pages 72-81

    7. Listening to the Voices of Young and Future Generations

      • Antoine Ebel, Tatiana Rinke
      Pages 82-90

    8. Advancing Ecological Stewardship Via the Commons and Human Rights

      • David Bollier, Burns Weston
      Pages 91-104

    9. Looking Backward (Not Forward) to Environmental Justice

      • Aaron Sachs
      Pages 105-114

    10. The Too-Polite Revolution: Understanding the Failure to Pass U.S. Climate Legislation

      • Petra Bartosiewicz, Marissa Miley
      Pages 115-128

    11. China’s Environmental Governance Challenge

      • Sam Geall, Isabel Hilton
      Pages 129-137

    12. Assessing the Outcomes of Rio+20

      • Maria Ivanova
      Pages 138-151

    13. How Local Governments Have Become a Factor in Global Sustainability

      • Monika Zimmermann
      Pages 152-162

  4. Economic Governance

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 163-163
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Scrutinizing the Corporate Role in the Post-2015 Development Agenda

      • Lou Pingeot
      Pages 165-173

    3. Making Finance Serve the Real Economy

      • Thomas I. Palley
      Pages 174-180
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

Citizens expect their governments to lead on sustainability. But from largely disappointing international conferences like Rio II to the U.S.’s failure to pass meaningful climate legislation, governments’ progress has been lackluster. That’s not to say leadership is absent; it just often comes from the bottom up rather than the top down. Action—on climate, species loss, inequity, and other sustainability crises—is being driven by local, people’s, women’s, and grassroots movements around the world, often in opposition to the agendas pursued by governments and big corporations.

These diverse efforts are the subject of the latest volume in the Worldwatch Institute’s highly regarded State of the World series. The 2014 edition, marking the Institute’s 40th anniversary, examines both barriers to responsible political and economic governance as well as gridlock-shattering new ideas. The authors analyze a variety of trends and proposals, including regional and local climate initiatives, the rise of benefit corporations and worker-owned firms, the need for energy democracy, the Internet’s impact on sustainability, and the importance of eco-literacy. A consistent thread throughout the book is that informed and engaged citizens are key to better governance.

The book is a clear-eyed yet ultimately optimistic assessment of citizens’ ability to govern for sustainability. By highlighting both obstacles and opportunities, State of the World 2014 shows how to effect change within and beyond the halls of government. This volume will be especially useful for policymakers, environmental nonprofits, students of environmental studies, sustainability, or economics—and citizens looking to jumpstart significant change around the world.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Worldwatch Institute, Washington District of Columbia, USA

    Worldwatch Institute

About the author

Founded in 1974 by farmer and economist Lester Brown, Worldwatch was the first independent research institute devoted to the analysis of global environmental concerns. Worldwatch quickly became recognized by opinion leaders around the world for its accessible, fact-based analysis of critical global issues. Now under the leadership of population expert and author Robert Engelman, Worldwatch develops innovative solutions to intractable problems, emphasizing a blend of government leadership, private sector enterprise, and citizen action that can make a sustainable future a reality.

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation