Sustainability History Project

This post continues the conversation from the post On Sustainability, Spring 2010. Again, I’ve gleaned themes and questions from student responses to the assignment (reproduced below) and from class discussion on April 6:

Understanding Gibson’s Purpose & Approach

Many students found Gibson’s 2006 article difficult. As Gibson writes, his article “outlines the basics of a practical generic approach to sustainability assessment (italics mine).” Thus, he analyzes a range of sustainability programs put in place since publication of the Brundtland Commission report (1987); remember that the Brundtland report did not come with specific assessment criteria, but was an intellectual framework outlining the idea of “sustainable development.” (more…)

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We had a discussion/lecture on Thursday April 1 with the theme “What is sustainability?” The core elements that I sought to get across in class are summarized here. As a follow-up to the first Reading Response (reproduced below), I thought I’d highlight some important points and questions from students’ work.

This assignment asked students to read two journal articles discussing our contemporary understanding of sustainability rooted in the 1987 Brundtland Commission report. The articles discussed the role of the Commission in establishing the “three pillars of sustainability”–Economics, Ecology, Equity–and defining as sustainable measures that meet “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” In so doing, the Commission developed a general framework that governments, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and individuals could then translate into tailored approaches.

There were three primary themes in these responses that highlighted the complex issue of sustainability. (more…)

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