Skip to main content

Basics of Sustainable Development

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Practice of Sustainable Community Development

Abstract

Communities face enormous challenges as their social, economic, and environmental resources are damaged or depleted. Because these resources are interconnected, there are no simple solutions to the problems society causes. But be it disease, child abuse, crime, injustice, weakened economies, energy shortages, lack of good jobs, extinction of species, poverty, destruction of forests, pollution, breakdown of families, armed conflict, or nuclear accidents, integrated solutions can resolve these seemingly diverse problems. However, acting on the interdependencies of the economic, environmental, and social justice elements of our world requires new ways of thinking about things and taking action—systemic instead of symptomatic—that will create a future where human society and nature can coexist with mutual benefit and where the suffering caused by poverty and natural resource abuse is eliminated (Gibson 2006).

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

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bartlett AA (1998) Reflections on sustainability, population growth, and the environment. Renew Res J 15(4):6–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernard T, Young J (1997) The ecology of hope: communities collaborate for sustainability. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, p 233

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryant B, Mohai P (1992) Environmental injustice: weighing race and class as factors in the distribution of environmental hazards. Univ Colorado Law Review 63:921–932

    Google Scholar 

  • Burns S (2001) A compass for environmental management systems. In: Nattrass B, Altomare M (eds) The natural step for business. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC, pp 169–185, 222 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Choucri N (1997) The framing project: multidimensional approaches to sustainability. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Daly HE (1992) Allocation, distribution, and scale: toward an economics that is efficient, just, and sustainable. Ecol Econ 6:185–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daly HE (1996) Beyond growth. Beacon, Boston, MA, 90

    Google Scholar 

  • Dweck C (2006) Mindset: the new psychology of success. Random House, NY, p 288

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrell A, Hart M (1998) What does sustainability really mean? The search for useful indicators. Environment 40(9):26–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson ARB (2005) The roots of delusion. Population Press, Summer/Fall 2005, 11(2): 29–30. URL – http://www.popco.org/press/articles/2005-11-ferguson.html.

  • Flint RW (2004) Chapter 4, Sustainable development: what does sustainability mean to individuals in the conduct of their lives and businesses. In: Mudacumura GM, ShamsulHaque MS (eds) Handbook of development policy studies. Marcel Dekker, New York, NY, pp 67–87, http://www.dekker.com/servlet/product/productid/0602-1. ISBN 0-8247-0602-1

    Google Scholar 

  • Flint RW, Houser WL (2001) Living a sustainable lifestyle for our children’s children. iUniverse, Campbell, CA, 288

    Google Scholar 

  • Flint RW, Danner MJE (2001). The nexus of sustainability and social equity. Int. J. Econ. Dev. 3(2): http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5479/is_2_3/ai_n28892986/?tag=content;col1.

  • Gibson RB (2002) Specification of Sustainability-Based Environmental Assessment Decision Criteria and Implications for Determining Significance in Environmental Assessment. Research and Development Monograph Series, from a Workshop on Environmental Assessment, Sustainability, and Significance, University of British Columbia, 7-8 June 2001 (ISBN: 0-662-31068-3). Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, Ottawa/Gatineau [http://www.ceaaacee.gc.ca/015/0002/0009/index_e.htm]

  • Gibson RB (2006) Beyond the pillars: sustainability assessment as a framework for effective integration of social, economic and ecological considerations in significant decision-making. J Environ Assess Pol Manage 8(3):259–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawken P (1993) The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability. HarperBusiness, New York, p 272

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart M (1999) Guide to sustainable community indicators. Sustainable Measures, North Andover, MA. http://www.sustainablemeasures.com

  • Hawken P, Lovins AB, Lovins LH (1999) Natural capitalism. Little, Brown and Company, Boston, MA, p 396

    Google Scholar 

  • Heintz HT (2004) Applying the concept of sustainability to water resources management. Water Resour Update (127): 6–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodge RA (2004) Mining’s seven questions to sustainability: from mitigating impacts to encouraging contribution. Episodes 27(3):1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) (1996) The Bellagio Principles. Rockefeller Foundation Conference Center, Bellagio, Italy. November, 1996. [URL - http://www.iisd.org/measure/principles/bp.asp]

  • International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) (1980) World conservation strategy: living resource conservation for sustainable development. World Conservation Union (IUCN), United National Environment Programme, and World Wide Fund for Nature Gland, Switzerland. 77 pp. [URL - http://app.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/WCS-004.pdf]

  • Jacobs J (2000) The nature of economies. The Modern Library, New York, NY, p 190

    Google Scholar 

  • Lahiti T (1998) The agenda 21 guide - summary. Esam, Umea, Sweden

    Google Scholar 

  • Lash J (2001) Dealing with the tinder as well as the flint. Science 294:1789

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall JD, Toffel MW (2005) Framing the elusive concept of sustainability: a sustainability hierarchy. Environ Sci Technol 39(3):673–682

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maser C (1997) Sustainable community development: principles and concepts. St. Lucie Press, Delray Beach, FL, 257

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayer AL, Kauppi PE, Angelstam PK, Zhang Y, Tikka PM (2005) Importing timber, exporting ecological impact. Science 308:359–360

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McDaniel J (2002) Spirituality and sustainability. Conserv Biol 16(6):1461–1464

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDonough W, Braungart M (1998) The next industrial revolution. The Atlantic Monthly, October 1998, p 82

    Google Scholar 

  • Norton BG (2005) Sustainability: a philosophy of adaptive ecosystem management. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, p 607

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Orr D (2002) Four challenges of sustainability. Conserv Biol 16(6):1457–1460

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parris T, Kates M (2003) Characterizing and measuring sustainable development. Annu Rev Energy Res 28:13.1–13.28

    Google Scholar 

  • Patterson MJ (2000) Natural capitalism. New Internationalist 329:14–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Pimentel D, Morse J (2003) Malnutrition, disease, and the developing world. Science 300:253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rees W, Wackernagel M (1994) Ecological Footprints and appropriated carrying capacity: measuring the natural capacity requirements of the human economy. In: Jansson A, Hammer M, Folke C, Costanza R (eds) Investing in Natural Capital. Island Press, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Robert KH (1991) Educating a Nation: The Natural Step. In: Context #28, Context Institute, 1321 Spring 1991. [URL: http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC28/Robert.htm]

  • Robinson J, Francis G, Legge R, Lerner S (1990) Defining a sustainable society: values, principles and definitions. Altern Perspect Soc Technology Environ 17(2):44

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruitenbeck J, Cartier C (2001) The invisible wand: adaptive co-management as an emergent strategy in complex bio-economic systems. Occasional Paper No. 34, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Jakarta

    Google Scholar 

  • Straskraba M (1994) Eco-technological models for reservoir water quality management. Ecol Model 74:5–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolf HB (ed) (1975) Webster’s new collegiate dictionary. G. & C. Merriam Company, Springfield, MA, 1535

    Google Scholar 

  • World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987a) Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York, p 8

    Google Scholar 

  • World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987b) Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York, p 43

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Flint, R.W. (2013). Basics of Sustainable Development. In: Practice of Sustainable Community Development. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5100-6_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics