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Sustainability Mindset

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education

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Definition

The sustainability mindset is a way of thinking and being that results from a broad understanding of the ecosystem’s manifestations as well as an introspective focus on one’s personal values and higher self and finds its expression in actions for the greater good of the whole (Kassel et al. 2015).

Origins of the Concept

When analyzing the global unsustainability, a trend of increasing awareness is observed at the individual, corporate, and political levels across the globe. While the environmental movement was launched in the 1960s, it has taken several decades to expand into public awareness. The rate of understanding accelerated since the early 2000, triggered by literacy about global warming and its impact on climate (IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 2007; Hansen 2010; Di Caprio 2016; Gore 2006, 2017), which reached the public. This has been accompanied by a progressive understanding of the social and economic effects of climate-related events, at the...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. PRME Working Group on the Sustainability Mindset, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

    Isabel Rimanoczy

Authors
  1. Isabel Rimanoczy
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Correspondence to Isabel Rimanoczy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Sciences, World Sustainable Development Research and Transfer Centre, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

Section Editor information

  1. Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    Petra Molthan-Hill

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Rimanoczy, I. (2019). Sustainability Mindset. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11352-0_528

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