Clashing Views in Sustainability

Klappentext Taking Sides volumes present current controversial issues in a debate-style format designed to stimulate student interest and develop critical thinking skills. Each issue is thoughtfully framed with Learning Outcomes, an Issue Summary, an Introduction, and an Exploring the Issue section featuring Critical Thinking and Reflection, Is There Common Ground?, and Additional Resources . Taking Sides readers also offer a Topic Guide and an annotated listing of Internet References for further consideration of the issues. An online Instructor's Resource Guide with testing material is available for each volume. Using Taking Sides in the Classroom is also an excellent instructor resource. Visit www.mhhe.com/takingsides for more details. Inhaltsverzeichnis TAKING SIDES: Clashing Views on SustainabilityUnit 1 Principles and OverviewIssue 1. Is Sustainability a Realistic Objective for Society? YES: Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin, from "Built to Trash: Is 'Heirloom Design' the Cure for Consumption?" In These Times (November 2009)NO: Sharon Begley, from "Green and Clueless," Newsweek (August 2010)Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin, an associate professor of journalism and a freelance writer, believes that sustainability is a realistic objective for society but is achievable only through sweeping changes in our economic system. Enticing producers to market products that have a longer life-cycle and are repairable would address much of our overconsumption and help move toward a sustainable society. Sharon Begley, a journalist for The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, believes that people have little idea about how to achieve energy efficiency and lead an eco-friendly lifestyle, and fail to understand how a move to sustainability requires major societal steps.Issue 2. Is Sustainability More About Politics Than Science?YES: Bill McKibben, from "Hot Mess: Why Are Conservatives So Radical About the Climate?," The New Republic (October 2010)NO: Huub Spiertz, from "Food Production, Crops, and Sustainability: Restoring Confidence in Science and Technology," Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (December 2010)Noted environmental writer Bill McKibben discusses how money and vested political interests undermine efforts toward sustainability and how this is reflected in politics. Huub Spiertz, a professor of crop ecology and past president of the International Crop Science Congress, elaborates on how applicable agrotechnologies and biotechnologies can address global food and population issues and offer an example of how science provides a more sustainable world.Issue 3. Are Western Values, Ethics, and Dominant Paradigms Compatible with Sustainability?YES: Jo Kwong, from "Globalization's Effects on the Environment-Boon or Bane?," Lindenwood Economic Policy Lecture Series ( July 2004)NO: Erik Assadourian, from "The Rise and Fall of Consumer Cultures," 2010 State of the World-Transforming Cultures from Consumerism to Sustainability (The Worldwatch Institute, 2010)Jo Kwong, vice president of institute relations at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in Fairfax, believes that globalization is a basic part of the solution of the global problems that plague the developing world. Greater movement of goods, services, people, and ideas can lead to economic prosperity, improved environmental protection, and a host of other social benefits. Erik Assadourian, a senior researcher at the Worldwatch Institute and the project director of 2010 State of the World, believes that Western culture is the origin of consumer culture and the consumption trend and, therefore, leads to a global culture of excess and is emerging as the biggest threat to the planet. Higher levels of consumption can affect the environment and, in the long run, limit economic activity. As a matter of fact, higher levels of consumption require larger inputs of energy and material to produce and t...

Product details

• Authors: Robert Taylor, Robert W. Taylor
• Assisted by: Robert W. Taylor (Editor)
• Publisher: Mcgraw Hill Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 29.07.2011
• EAN: 9780073514505
• ISBN: 978-0-07-351450-5
• Series: Taking Sides; Taking Sides: Clashing Views i
• Subject: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > Ecology