Abstract
This chapter is concerned not only with the traditional problems of the environment, but also with many of the issues surrounding the concept of sustainable development. The two overlap, but the latter are broader in scope and are also of more recent origin. Debates on sustainable development first became prominent during the early 1970s with the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972 and the publication of two influential reports around the issue of ‘limits to growth’ — the fear that the environment could not survive the modern-day lifestyle of continued production and consumption (Goldsmith et al., 1972; Meadows et al., 1972).
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Further Reading
Books
- Dobson, A. (1995) Green Political Thought (2nd edn), London, Routledge. Perhaps the best book on the conceptual debates between different schools of thought in the Green movement. Bearing in mind the nature of the theoretical issues, the book is remarkably clear and easy to follow.Google Scholar
- Huby, M. (1998) Social Policy and the Environment, Buckingham, Open University Press. A very readable account of the implications of sustainable development for policies in relation to water, food, housing, energy, travel and recreation.Google Scholar
- Pearce, D. (1993) Blueprint 3: Measuring Sustainable Development, London, Earthscan. A very good documentation and discussion of the state of the environment in the UK, together with a critical review of government policies by one of the foremost writers on these issues.Google Scholar
Copyright information
© Vic George and Paul Wilding 1999