Supply-side sustainability / T. F. H. Allen, Joseph A. Tainter, Thomas W. Hoekstra.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Allen, T. F. H., author.

Tainter, Joseph A., author.

Hoekstra, T. W., author.

Series:

Complexity in ecological systems series.

Complexity in Ecological Systems Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ecology.

Sustainable development.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (732 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York, [New York] : Columbia University Press, 2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

While environmentalists insist that lower rates of consumption of natural resources are essential for a sustainable future, many economists dismiss the notion that resource limits act to constrain modern, creative societies. The conflict between these views tinges political debate at all levels and hinders our ability to plan for the future.Supply-Side Sustainability offers a fresh approach to this dilemma by integrating ecological and social science approaches in an interdisciplinary treatment of sustainability. Written by two ecologists and an anthropologist, this book discusses organisms, landscapes, populations, communities, biomes, the biosphere, ecosystems and energy flows, as well as patterns of sustainability and collapse in human societies, from hunter-gatherer groups to empires to today's industrial world. These diverse topics are integrated within a new framework that translates the authors' advances in hierarchy and complexity theory into a form useful to professionals in science, government, and business.The result is a much-needed blueprint for a cost-effective management regime, one that makes problem-solving efforts themselves sustainable over time. The authors demonstrate that long-term, cost-effective resource management can be achieved by managing the contexts of productive systems, rather than by managing the commodities that natural systems produce.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

Preface

1. The Nature of the Problem

I. COMPLEXITY, PROBLEM SOLVING, AND SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

2. Complexity and Social Sustainability: Framework

3. Complexity and Social Sustainability: Experience

II. A HIERARCHICAL APPROACH TO ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY

4. The Criteria for Observation and Modeling

5. Biomes and the Biosphere

6. Ecosystems, Energy Flows, Evolution, and Emergence

7. Retrospect and Prospects

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780231504072

0231504071

OCLC:

818858199