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Bibliography of Literature
Relevant to Our Future
Sustainability |
Franck Boston / Shutterstock |
The question, then, is not whether we
will change, but whether the transition is done with more or less grace and
whether the destination is desirable or not. The barriers to a graceful
transition to sustainability, whatever forms it may take, are not so much
technological as they are social, political, and psychological. --- David Orr |
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Jump down to the Table of
Contents Curated
by: Robert Turner, PhD School
of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences University
of Washington Bothell (An essay on the motivations and
applications of this bibliography) |
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Objective of this web site: To help anyone achieve a better
understanding of the challenges facing humanity and other species, why we
have these challenges, and what we can do to mitigate, overcome, or adapt to
them. Some caveats about this resource Contributors: Thanks to the following colleagues who
shared references they thought should be included in earlier versions of this
resource. Jennifer Atkinson School
of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences University
of Washington Bothell Sonya Doucette Chemistry
and Environmental Science Program Bellevue
College Martha Groom School
of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences University
of Washington Bothell Jason Lambacher School
of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences University
of Washington Bothell Jean MacGregor Emerita
Director Evergreen
State College Giving these fine
colleagues credit here in no way implies that they have any responsibility
for, or agreement with, anything written or found on this site. Please do not bother them with any
suggestions or comments. |
A Conversational
Approach to this Resource (No
thanks, just take me to the Table of Contents) Are you feeling
some anxiety about our future prospects?
You are not alone.
Click here
to see how people are processing perceived environmental
threats and discovering
motivation for change, along with scholarly work on environmental psychology, eco-anxiety,
and climate grief. |
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Perhaps you are thinking – What’s the big deal? How bad can it be? -
Click here
to read articles that provide a synthesis
of our various existential threats and assess the potential for societal
collapse. |
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Click here
if you want to learn more, much more, about the impacts of climate change that we have already observed and the
latest projections of those impacts into the future, broken up into 19
sub-categories. -
Click here
if you are interested in finding out what
kind of limits or thresholds constrain our activities and potential, as
well as how we assess vulnerability of
populations to climate change and other hazards, or measure societal success and progress toward sustainability. |
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Is climate change
our only significant concern? Not even
close. There are many other
troubling trends that threaten our future. Click here
to learn about them. |
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But wait – the future is not written, right? How
can we know what the future holds? Well, we don’t know, exactly, but we can define various
different, but possible trajectories and assume that what will happen will
fall within the boundaries of those different trajectories. Click here
to learn about Future Scenarios
Analyses, their applications,
and their findings. |
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Ok, there are many negative trends and projections to
worry us. Why do we have these problems and so much difficulty in overcoming them? Click here
to learn about the cultural factors contributing to our
unsustainability. How do we develop our values, ethics and ideologies, and how do they
express in problematic ways via politics, economics, media, and advocacy? |
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So
what are we doing
(or can do) to
address our many challenges? -
If we are looking to maintain something
like the status quo while also reducing the vulnerability of populations to
calamities, then we are building resilience in our systems via mitigation or
adaptation efforts. Click here
to learn about the many and varied resilience-oriented
efforts and proposals. |
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If, however, the initiatives are
calling for systemic transformation of virulent socio-economic systems, and
some degree of culture change in order to address our environmental and
social challenges at their roots, then they can be considered part of the
sustainability movement. Click here
to learn more about the principles of
both sustainability and
sustainable development. How are they different? Click here
to learn how sustainability may be manifested in the teaching, operations, and missions of higher
education institutions. Click here
to access proposals and manifestos for sustainability. This is your one stop shop for holistic and
transformational solutions. |
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Enough with the bad news, you wail! Is
there no hope?
Well, yes, there is. Click here
for assessments of the validity
and power
of hope,
links to organizations doing the best they can to make a better future, and
stories of successful or promising initiatives. |
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Last updated – December 10,
2021