22: Sustainability

Last updated
Save as PDF

Page ID: 32773

Melissa Ha and Rachel Schleiger
Yuba College & Butte College via ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative

\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

Connecting Environmental Science to Sustainability

Both environmental science and sustainability originated out of necessity due to past and current issues to find solutions for the now and the future. As such, there are many parallels to these subjects basic objectives. However, environmental science focuses on environmental/ecological solutions (as outlined in this book), whereas sustainability focuses on environmental/ecological, social, and economic goals. That's even more interdisciplinary, and thus complex, than environmental science! As such, this chapter will solely introduce essential concepts of sustainability and will not be entirely comprehensive.

Examples of sustainability goals — **Figure \(\PageIndex{a}\):** Example goals of sustainability. Image by Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA4.0)

22.1: Introduction to Sustainability
This section introduces the concept of sustainability, which refers to the sociopolitical, scientific, and cultural challenges of living within the means of the earth without significantly impairing its function.
22.2: History of Sustainability
This section reviews the history that lead to the sustainability paradigm and the book that helped define its origin.
22.3: Environmental Ethics
This introduces ethics and moral extensionism so the reader can transition to sustainable ethic topics in the next two subsections.
- 22.3.1: Environmental Justice and Indigenous Struggles
- 22.3.2: Perspectives of the Environment
22.4: Environmental Policy
This section describes how movements in US history have influenced how environmental policy was introduced and what the focus points were.
22.5: Sustainable Cities
This section describes the paradigm of sustainable cities and what it takes at many scales to make it happen.
22.6: Sustainability and the Future
This section overviews how to think about sustainability at the individual scale and considerations need to be made for lifestyle choices.
22.7: Data Dive- Sustainable Investments
22.8: Review

Attribution

Rachel Schleiger (CC-BY-NC)

Thumbnail - "Sustainability diagram" Is in the Public Domain