The age of sustainable development /

by Sachs, J. D. Published by : Columbia University Press books, (United States of America :) Physical details: xvii, 565 p. : ill. ; ISBN:978-0-231-53900-5. Year: 2015 Item type: E-Book
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College of Natural Resources

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e-book (MDP) (Browse shelf (Opens below)) Not for loan

Includes bibliographical references and index.

PREFACE
We have entered a new era. Global society is interconnected as never before.
Business, ideas, technologies, people, and even epidemic diseases cross borders
with unprecedented speed and intensity. We share the exhilaration of
the new information age and also the fears of global-scale environmental
disruption. Business practices, technologies, and the size and age structure
of populations are changing rapidly. There are new opportunities and also
new risks. For these reasons, I suggest that we have arrived in the Age of
Sustainable Development.
As I will describe, sustainable development is both a way of looking at the
world, with a focus on the interlinkages of economic, social, and environmental
change, and a way of describing our shared aspirations for a decent
life, combining economic development, social inclusion, and environmental
sustainability. It is, in short, both an analytical theory and a “normative”
or ethical framework. Our new era will soon be described by new global
goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Other powerful ideas also express the novelty of our era. Leading geoscientists
have coined the term Anthropocene, with the Greek roots meaning
“human-made” (anthropo) and “new” (cene). The Anthropocene is our
current, unprecedented epoch of the Earth in which the Earth’s physical
change—climate, biodiversity, chemistry—is mainly driven by human activity.
Leading ecologists have adopted the idea of “planetary boundaries” to explain the limits beyond which human activities will tip the Earth into uncharted
and dangerous patterns of climate disruption, loss of biodiversity, and change in
the chemistry of the air, land, and oceans. Both of these key concepts describe the
realities of the new Age of Sustainable Development.
Our geopolitics is changing rapidly as well. Our once “bipolar” world, divided
between the rival superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union, is now
a complex multipolar world with many regional powers and nearly 200 countries,
many new and with fragile institutions. This new multipolar world must find the
means to preserve peace, pursue economic development, and face the unprecedented
environmental challenges of our age. New forms of global governance
will therefore play a key role in meeting the new SDGs.
I am excited to share these ideas with you as we enter a new era together. Our
hopes are high—to end extreme poverty and protect the planet from the side
effects of our own actions. Yet the challenges are immense and unprecedented.
I hope that this volume will be of help in identifying pathways forward in our new
age. And I hope that many young readers and students will soon become the creative
and dedicated leaders of sustainable development in our new age.

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