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He was a child of his time. But we should contextualize it and recognize that aspects like nature conservation, bio- diversity protection and social coherence are equally important. Sustainability is more than number crunching and defining limits and emissions budgets; it is about a shared vision, political strategies, lifestyle changes and new social practices.
And, yes, it is about conflicts and problem solving. Over the last two decades we have almost seen a boom of sustainability research, practice and rhetoric. Real progress has been made in some areas. I will just mention the protection of the ozone layer or the growth of renewable energies in Europe.
But if we are honest to ourselves we have to admit that all this is far from being sufficient. Climate change is not at all tackled in an adequate manner, resource use is increasing permanently, biodiversity is still on the decline, the oceans are overfished, over mined, over polluted, desertification is not under control in many parts of the world, and pollution is exploding in the megacities of the southern hemisphere.
And all this after almost three decades of modern sustainability talk. What does this mean? Should we give up and become pessimistic and hopeless? Is sustainability an illusion in the meantime and is the only option we have to go for resilience, to make our societies more robust against environmental problems? Or are there still alternatives?
It is the merit of this book by Judith C. Enders, Moritz Remig and their coauthors to systematically discuss the challenges of global environmental change and structure the various approaches to tackle the problem from a philosophical, sci- entific, technological, cultural and historical perspective. After having read the book it is no longer possible to discuss sustainability in an arbitrary and vague way as it is so popular today among policy makers.
But what we need is a clear definition so that we can measure deadlock, regression and hope- fully progress not just in quantitative but also in qualitative terms. This book is a must for those who really want to understand where the idea comes from and what it means to us as researchers and politically interested and engaged citizens. Enders and Moritz Remig The term sustainable development has received much attention in many spheres: in scientific discourses, in daily life practices, in international negotiations, in local policy measures, in marketing, in business.
The aim of this interdisciplinary book is to fill this gap and resume the debate on theo- ries of sustainability. It provides a collection of interdisciplinary research articles: history, politics, governance, complex systems, economics, philosophy and cul- tural studies are only but some approaches this book builds upon.
Many current trends around the globe are unsustainable. We are losing biodi- versity and fertile soils; we are contributing to climate change on larger and larger scales; inequalities within and among generations are rising; poverty remains yet to be overcome. These challenges are interconnected and require a joint effort to give rise to sustainable lifestyle and durable development patterns. Prosperity for all within the limits of the carrying capacity of our planet is what sustainable development aims to achieve.
Sustainable development is also a topic to which scientists contribute. To solve problems of unsustainability, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research cooperation is necessary because monodisciplinary approaches often fail to capture the interconnected nature of sustainability and global environmental change.
Solutions to the problems of the interconnected environmental, eco- nomic, and social spheres cannot be reduced to mere technical engineering, but must include social innovations, institutions, innovative governance mecha- nisms, and politics.
These interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches necessitate simulta- neous bridges between different scientific disciplines, which deal with sustain- ability as a research topic. Yet, it also requires cooperation between scientist and other societal actors. Since the nature of the problems above is also due to a lack of governance and collective action, a bridge between natural sciences and social sciences is required.
Many of these bridges have already been constructed; in this book we contribute to strengthen their pillars. Enders and Moritz Remig perspective. Some universities have founded faculties of sustainability studies, specific scientific societies with their own journals on sustainable development exist, and courses on sustainability are offered at many universities. Sustainable development as a cross-cutting topic is becoming more and more established.
The book is an academic book. Its scope, however, is not restricted to the sci- entific community alone. The research book can serve as a textbook for courses on sustainable development and environmental politics.
Theorizing sustainable development also has implications for the implementation of sustainability. It is necessary to know the development — both in theory and practice — of a concept like sustainability in order to achieve a successful implementation. Therefore, the book is also of interest to all those engaged with sustainable development in politics, business, administration, and civil society organizations.
For all those working on sustainable development, this book underpins the practical work by contributing to theory development. While the idea of sustain- able development has emerged in many cultures of the world, the conceptualization of sustainable development as such began with Carlowitz in seventeenth-century Europe.
Sustainable development can be understood in its complexity only by ensuring that its history embedded in thought traditions be recalled to conscious- ness once again.
Armin Grunwald treats sustainable development conceptually from a different yet complementary perspective. He proposes strategies to overcome several difficul- ties on the way to a theory of sustainable development. Of highest importance is the constellation that the relation of theory and practice is, on the one hand, inherent in the very notion of sustainability, and on the other, must itself be elucidated theoretically.
Transdisciplinarity is at the heart of the chapter by Thomas Jahn. On the contrary, it opens the door to counterproduc- tive misunderstandings. Alternatively he argues, thus, for transdisciplinary research for sustainable development that includes a broader stock of knowledge than dis- ciplinary science. He interprets sustainability as a relational concept that should ensure resilient societies.
They argue that sustainability science does not fit standard criteria of the quality of sciences. Normativity, inclusion of nonsci- entists, urgency, and cooperation of natural and social scientists are four particular features of sustainability science.
In transdisciplinary research processes, nonsci- entists must be understood within this demanding context, instead of including them for the sake of inclusion. The discussion in this article also refers to the foundational controversy of sustainability science: the weak versus strong sustain- ability debate. Normativity, inclusion of nonscientists, urgency, and cooperation of natural and social scientists suggest a convincing case for strong sustainability.
The key aspect here is not the natural-scientific, but rather the humanistic aspect. Ekardt views sustain- able development, not only as the establishment of a permanent, globally prac- ticable and future-capable mode of life and economics, but rather as a complex array of problems, involving a wide range of social-scientific and humanistic disciplines — law, political science, sociology, economics, theology, psychology, philosophy.
The article lays out some of the barriers that make societal transfor- mations towards sustainability difficult. It gives a perspective from ethics inspired by a re- interpretation of national constitutions, the EU Charter of fundamental rights, and the European convention on human rights in the light of sustain- ability. Ekardt also argues for a governance architecture that includes multiple instruments on different scales. On the other hand, he argues against simple and mainstream solutions.
Generosity and resilience are key concept in this contribution. Joachim H. Spangenberg picks up the issue of complexity. His paper analyzes complexity gradients of natural and social systems which permit an evaluation of the suitability of various models that represent specific system dynamics.
As for systems as complex like nature, society, or the economy, the available mod- els have proven, almost without exception, to be insufficiently complex. An alternative is introduced.
For economics in particular, the analysis shows that the complexity of real economies by far exceeds that of neoclassical mental and econometric models. Consequently, the latter are suitable as instruments of anal- ysis only in special cases. Today, there are few who question its position as a development model for science, government, business, and civil society. Never- theless, there are still significant controversies regarding the concrete definition of its goal orientation, and the implementation of its goals.
Based on reflections of human rights and international climate policy, the article shows how sustain- ability might be operationalized through an appropriate linkage between univer- sal and specific, context-referenced elements.
Sustainability is about the long term and thus involves both intergenerational and intragenerational justice considerations.
During the past decades, generational ethics has become firmly established as a branch of ethics, and there is now extensive literature on such theories. Arguments directed against them are thus in effect aimed at sustainability theory in general, so that theoreti- cians of sustainability are well advised to address them. Of particular interest are arguments which generally deny any obligation toward the generations to come. Tremmel focuses on the non-identity problem, which has often been viewed as a serious challenge to theories of sustainability and intergenerational justice.
He concludes that any government policy only accounts for a miniscule causal factor in a network of billions of other miniscule factors in the determination of who will exist in the future. This effectively refutes the non-identity problem as a theoretical stumbling block for theories of sustainability and intergenerational justice, according to Tremmel. Development can be defined as non- identical reproduction.
The implementation of this initially very formal defi- nition can be oriented toward research programs initiated primarily by social geography, as a reconstruction of spatial structuring.
The main topic of this paper is to show that ecology as a biological discipline and sustainability science as a science dealing with the relations between nature and culture are based on different kinds of items. These items are not natural kinds existing independent of human purposes and actions, but are cultural kinds constituted by us reflect- ing the purposes of our actions. His notion of environmental sciences encom- passes the society-nature relationships.
To constitute the item of sustainability science, it is thus necessary to complement the theory of structuration with a concept of reproduction. Oliver Parodi argues that non- sustainability, the debates and efforts for sus- tainable development, as well as barriers to their implementation, are highly cultural phenomena.
An increased incorporation of cultural- scientific and cultural-theoretical considerations into the theories and concepts of sustainable development provides a more comprehensive view including issues which have hitherto been too little examined.
Hence, cultural perspectives con- tribute to the societal transformations towards sustainable development. Hans Diefenbacher concludes the book with ten theses on a research agenda for sustainable development. Among others, Diefenbacher argues for a broader inclusion of courses on sustainable development in education. The issue of sus- tainability in an interdisciplinary or even transdisciplinary perspective has yet to be adopted into the established curricula. This call for a broader integration of sustainable development in education curricula is consistent with the aims of this book on Theorizing Sustainable Development.
Addressing scholars, teachers, politicians, civil society representa- tives, and all practitioners of sustainable development, this book contributes to a deepening of our thinking and practice of sustainable development. Other theses concentrate on the research agenda between sufficiency and efficiency issues, on the fatal consequences of the dominance of GDP as a political orientation, and on alternative monitoring and measurement concepts of wealth and well-being.
Outlook The insights, controversies, and inquiries into theories of sustainable develop- ment as portrayed in this book give rise to a series of further questions for a research agenda on sustainable development.
The discussion of theories of sus- tainable development is a first step towards sustainability transitions. How such societal transformations — towards more sustainable lifestyles, more sustainable consumption and production patterns, and towards more social justice — can be implemented is yet worth further research.
The quest for sustainability and for human development within the limits of our planet is a global effort. As this book shows, sustainability rather than a uni- form concept is a guiding idea that can be implemented differently depending on the cultural and societal context in different regions of the world.
The develop- ment of such sustainable development pathways for countries, for regions, and on the global level is a joint effort that must include many stakeholders. For sustain- ability sciences, this can be achieved, for example, by including non-scientific actors in the research process as some articles here argue. A major task ahead of us is the transformation towards sustainable develop- ment pathways and lifestyles. Both theory and practice of sustainability have to be in accordance with each other.
Sustainability sciences can provide us some of the necessary tools, concepts, ideas, and methods to achieve these transforma- tions. Such a societal project cannot be solely a scientific one; it requires the participation and inclusion of citizens. For scientists, this task of transdisciplinary sustainability studies is but one contribution to the public good of living in har- mony with nature.
In this case, however, various approaches seem to be necessary. Since the Earth Summit in Rio in , it has established itself as the center of a whole field of concepts. Around it orbit an array of other terms, which develop, take root, come and go. Given its meteoric ascent to fame, it would at first glance appear surpris- ing that there is no binding definition for this term, and hardly any awareness of its history.
The growing worldwide movement which has adopted this term has rather been operating with a flexible inventory of stipulations which a sustainability strategy should fulfill. The term thus serves as a compass which provides orientation for a journey towards a more sustainable future. This open- ness is necessary; indeed, it is a strength of the concept. However, it also makes it vulnerable to manipulative misuse. What is to be done? My proposed path in order to clarify and sharpen the term would proceed by way of its conceptual history, that is the way it has been charged with meaning over a long time.
The concept of sustainability is not an invention of our time. It can be understood in its complexity only by recalling its history, and its embedding in long thought traditions. From the many aspects which have already been ascertained and considered in the course of its history, a feeling for how to approach its current and future tasks emerges. Meadows , p. The edition of the Oxford English Dictionary dedicates several columns to it, and traces it back to the Middle Ages. That is the essential constant in the structure of this term.
A comparison involving the German word for sustainability, Nachhaltigkeit, will show the continuity at the semantical level. At the time of Goethe, Campe was anything but unknown. The concept focuses on what is resilient to collapse. However, that requires that we be able to distinguish precisely between what is sustainable and what is non-sustainable. My archaeology of the term is designed to strengthen this critical capacity to distinguish, by digging down to uncover the prehistoric levels.
This conception describes the divine ability to think and act into eternity. Prediction leads to a preknowledge of things. That which is foreseen, which corresponds to that which is desired, requires measures to ensure that it comes to be, in other words precaution. This in turn requires action appropriate to the intended goal at any given moment. The structure of providential action has three bearing elements. The funda- mental one is conservation, or, too, sustentatio.
This means preserving, protecting all things in the manner of their existence as established by creation. It is the continuation of creation, and prevents the falling back into nothingness, the annihilation — or the collapse. Here, we already see the polarity outlined above. Gubernatio refers to the steering and leading processes, the exercise of govern- ment over things.
An element of that is cura, care and caring, including a caring handling of creation. The signs of divine gubernatio are the phenomena which occur according to the laws of nature: the consistency of cosmic motion, the regularity of the sequence of the seasons, the water cycle, and the sequence of generations in the natural realms. The third element of providentia is concursus, the flowing together or the inter- action of various effective causes. This involves the relationship between divine effect actio externa , the effects of the forces of nature, and free human actions.
Divine action is the prima causa, the primal cause. Natural forces and human cooperation cooperatio are secundae causae, secondary causes, but also with lee- way, and with their own effects and side effects. Finally, the teaching of concursus also addresses the tricky question of how evil affects the course of things. Divine gubernatio switches between the options of permission permissio , prevention impeditio , orientation towards divine goals directio , and limitation terminatio of evil.
Belief in divine providence began to crumble during the eighteenth century. Even theology abandoned it. But its language continues to have an effect in secu- larized systems of thought. The vocabulary of providentia reappears today in the global sustainability discourse. In the triangle of sustainability, what is at issue is the integration of ecology, economy, and social forces, i.
That is what was once called concursus. And what does terminatio, the limitation of evil, tell us? At the Climate Summits, the controversy is about the limitation of CO2 emissions. As we are debating — once again — the limits to growth, films and books are proposing ever new images of annihilatio, the destruction of the planet — the ultimate collapse. Faith has disappeared — yet the conceptual framework of the trust in divine providence has been adapted.
The path was to win domination over nature, to take possession of her, to impose order upon her. This was done using the method of rational thought: only to recognize as true that which is evident and provable.
To take a thing apart, into as many pieces as necessary, to dissect, to analyze, to measure, to reorder and design them — that was the avenue to be taken, upon which the human could imagine himself to be maitre et posesseur — lord and master of nature. This view is certainly engraved in the idea of sustainability. But in the long run it is not sustainable. Spinoza, however, formulated a radical counterproposal to Descartes. It undertakes the greatest conceivable upgrading of nature: it pronounces God and nature to be identical: deus sive natura: God is nature.
Nature is God. Here is the primal cause of all existence, including all thinking. The more we know the sin- gle phenomena of nature, the more we know God. Distinct from it he saw natura naturans, the living, active, and productive force working within the natura naturata. The distinction is essential. As the natura naturata, nature is at the disposal of human will.
It is manipulable www. The vital forces of natura naturans, however, are overpowering and non-disposable. They are the fullness of life, the power of life itself. That topples the claim of the human race to power. The classification of natu- ral phenomena into good and evil, useful and harmful, undeveloped and devel- oped, becomes obsolete, and is replaced by the indivisible web of life. Since its expulsion from paradise, humankind has been responsible for that, too. This economic securing of human existence can, however, only succeed in harmony with nature.
We do not produce the riches of nature; we find them before us. Our freedom consists of bringing our striving into line with reason, which means with the order of the entire natural world. Where that succeeds, we can be completely at peace, and seek to remain permanently in this peace. What does that mean for the design of our common society? Reason demands that we tie the preservation of our own being not only to the preservation of the natural foundations of life, but also to the welfare of others.
As opposed to the law of the jungle of free competition, he posits the just distribu- tion of goods, and the potentia multitudinis, the democratic power of the many. The capacity to foresee and exercise precaution focused all over Europe on the management of forests. The actual creator of the classical concept of Nachhaltigkeit, blueprint of the modern concept of sustainability in the eighteenth century, was a Saxon cam- eralist by the name of Hans Carl von Carlowitz see Grober , pp.
His portrait shows a self-assured aristocrat, a Baroque figure. The region around Freiberg had largely been clear-cut, so that the most important resource for smelting silver ore was becom- ing scarce. In , Carlowitz published his book Sylvicultura oeconomica oder Anweisung zur wilden Baumzucht Economical silviculture, or instruction on the raising of wild trees. It differed from the traditional term pfleglich, in that it combined the notion of long-term continuity with the notion of spatial stability, and was thus able to more clearly incorporate the idea of rationing resources, in other words, the temporal dimension, or the future capability of the use of natural resources.
Carlowitz addressed the question as to how such a conservation and cultivation of wood can be arranged, so as to make possible a continuous, steady and sustaining use [nachhaltende Nut- zung], as this is an indispensable necessity, without which the country cannot maintain its Being. Quoted by Grober , p. We can see at this point how Carlowitz is literally searching and groping for a new concept.
This is, indeed, a prominent place in the book. Of course, Carlowitz provides no definition of the term. Only later would this borrowing from everyday language become a technical concept. It was in this way that sci- entific language emerged during the early part of the Age of Enlightenment; pre- viously, only Latin had been used for such purposes. It is surprising to see that the dimensions of sustainability, ecology, economy, and social justice can already be seen clearly outlined in this book, published in What does Carlowitz say about ecology?
He adopts a word and fills it with a new specific semantic content. Ever since, throughout all defini- tions of Nachhaltigkeit, sustained yield forestry, and sustainability, two core thoughts persist: intergenerational justice and respect for the bearing capacity of the eco- system. Throughout the entire process of expansion of the scope of its mean- ing, that is what constitutes the substance and the continuity of the concept.
And that continuity began with Carlowitz. The Sylvicultura oeconomica contains the commonplace word for the first time in a written source in connection with its notional substance that still applies today. That makes this book a linguistic event of significance. During the nineteenth century, the principle was also adopted in other Euro- pean countries, and the need to translate Nachhaltigkeit into other languages became urgent.
It was then that derivations of the Latin word sustinere first appeared. A restart: Sustainable development The Brundtland Report appeared in This report begins with the look at the blue planet with these words: In the middle of the 20th century, we saw our planet from space for the first time. From space, we see a small and fragile ball dominated not by human activity and edifice but by a pattern of clouds, oceans, greenery, and soils.
WCED , p. During those years began the great search movement, the politics of the earth, which has continued to this day, and which will determine our fate during the twenty-first century.
These conceptions, these images, these thought-pictures, are part of the rational, emotional, and spiritual core of the concept of sustainability. They are its matrix. In , the Commission met in Bucharest to explore a formula for solutions to the worldwide environmental crisis, which would at the same time address the question of justice.
This implies that the developed countries have provided the only possible path to development. Development is thus placed in the context of the struggle against poverty, and of north—south justice. In the same breath, the report emphasizes that the current and future bearing capac- ity of the ecosystem must define the limits of technology and civilization.
The permanent bearing capacity of the ecosystems thus becomes the standard for eco- nomic activity — not the globalized markets.
Conclusion Let us return to my initial question: sustainability is a holistic design. Its tar- get is the overall whole. It organically connects the three dimensions: ecology, economy, and social justice. And it connects them so tightly that new patterns of production and consumption become apparent, patterns which are compatible with the bearing capacity of the ecosystems, and which will drastically reduce our ecological footprint.
In the prism of sustainability we see a different kind of economy, a lower-resource, more natural, socio-ethically well-founded economy. The fossil age is coming to an end.
Fossil resources have, in the last years, given us an unbelievably dynamic development. That logic needed no sustainability. And indeed, the traditional vocabulary of ecology and sustainability disappeared into the ivory tower of academic disciplines for years. But fossil resources are not regenerated. The oil price shock of was an initial warning sign. This game cannot go into overtime. Business-as-usual is no longer possible.
We will once again have to depend on renewable resources and renewable energies. Sustainability is no longer the icing on the cake of a fossil- fueled lifestyle, but rather a survival strategy and a new civilizational design.
We have the necessary intellectual resources. We have the gentle technologies. And we also have the sensitivity for the values of human rights and human dignity. The discovery of sustainability 15 Peak oil is a historic opportunity, a moment of kairos, at which a window of opportunity is opening. It is bringing us face-to-face with the challenge to design the Great Transformation in all areas. Back to my initial question: sustainability is not a word that can be manipu- lated at will.
Nor, however, is it a rigid term, explainable in one or two formulas, to be defined once and then simply implemented. It is not a state; it is a process, a model. In other words, it is not a final goal to be achieved at some stage, but rather a compass providing orientation for a journey into an unknown future.
It will help us to act on this field that evolution has prepared in such a way that human existence will not end on this planet. Sustain- ability is a Suchbewegung, a quest. Bibliography Birch, C. Regaining Compassion — For Humanity and Nature. Campe, J. Braunschweig, Germany: Schul- buchhandlung. Carlowitz, H. Sylvicultura oeconomica. Carson, R. Silent Spring. London: Penguin Books. Grober, U. Sustainability — A Cultural History.
Totnes, UK: Green Books. World Conservation Strategy. Living Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development. Meadows, D. The Limits to Growth. London: Earth Island. Spinoza, B. The Ethics of Spinoza. M Elwes. New York: Kensington Publishing Corp. Our Common Future.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. Some thoughts Armin Grunwald The issue and an overview Since its stormy adolescent period of ten to fifteen years ago, the theoretical discussion around sustainability has abated almost entirely.
Large numbers of definitions and concepts of sustainable development emerged during that initial period, which, however, eventually yielded to a phase of fatigue. For what was the use of all this theoretical contemplation and debate, when so many urgent practi- cal issues were at hand?
While a debate over such issues may give rise to a theory of sustainability research as part of scientific theory or of scientific research, it will hardly be able to engender a theory of sustainable development, which would, after all, have to address the question of what that means terminologically, normatively, conceptually, and operatively.
In this situation, the question as to what theory is needed would seem to itself require justification, and also a brief consideration of the role of theory itself. Theories are not ends in themselves, but must rather be viewed instrumentally. What kind of theory do we need for sustainable development? Depending on the state of knowledge and its processing, theoretical debates are sometimes urgently required; often, however, they are unnecessary.
The fact that virtually no theoretical debate on sustainable development has been car- ried out during the past ten years is thus not necessarily a problem. Theoretical debates should only be conducted if there is a demonstrable need for them, for example, because of unclear interpretations of empirical results, or of far-reaching scientific controversies which can be diagnosed with their aid.
The initial thesis of this paper is that in the case of sustainability, there cer- tainly is currently a considerable need for theoretical work which must, initially, be elucidated Section 2. Thereafter, several difficulties on the way to a theory of sustainable development will be identified, and approaches for dealing with them proposed Section 3.
Rather, the important thing is that the problem of theory and practice inher- ent in sustainability be itself elucidated theoretically; this can, however, only be touched on here Section 4.
Sustainability concepts are competing with one another scientifically, and to some extent also politi- cally. I would like to elucidate this below by reference to an imagined practical situation conceived as a thought experiment. Let us imagine a situation in which a decision-maker is faced with the necessity of making political — or other — decisions with regard to, say, energy supply, mobility related facilities, or waste treatment from the point of view of sustainability.
What should this decision-maker now do? In this perspective, sustainability-related decision making becomes a two-stage process: at the first stage, it is necessary to make a decision regarding the concept of sustainability with the aid of which, at the second stage, substantive sustain- ability assessments can be undertaken and political decisions made.
The focus of the present paper is on the first of these two stages. The question is, which criterion K is to provide orientation for the selection decision at the first stage, and what can this criterion K be based upon?
This is a decisive point for the evaluation of the practical necessity of theory. For the selection decision between various sustainability concepts could have very considerable practical results with regard to many questions of sustainable development and their policy implemen- tation, even if this is certainly not always the case. Depending on the sustainabil- ity concept upon which various policies are based, their implementation could turn out very differently. Without clear and well- founded assessment and selection criteria, there will be no possibility, in the case of competing concepts of sustainability, of arriving at an argumentatively legitimated, i.
This would then no longer be an academic problem, but rather a practical one: since sustainability ultimately aims toward activity in a variety of societal areas, it needs at least a minimum of reliability, convergence, and continuity in its orientation for action. In order to avoid this, i. The goal must be to overcome a threatening arbitrariness of perception and assessment, and to replace it with a systematic procedure which would first of all address such a fear of arbitrariness, and second, abstractly over- arch the casuistry of multiple cases see Habermas , p.
Only in this way does the usual scientific process of realization, in which theo- retical reflection and the relationship between theory and practice, as well as their interaction, have an undeniable place, become possible in the first place.
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