There are many different uses of the term sustainability as well as its derivatives, such as social sustainability, environmental sustainability, sustainable development, sustainable living, sustainable future, and many others. Literally, the word sustainability means the capacity to support, maintain or endure; it can indicate both a goal and a process. In ecology, sustainability describes how biological systems remain diverse, robust, resilient and productive over time, a necessary precondition for the well-being of humans and other species. As the environment and social equality became increasingly important as a world issue, sustainability was adopted as a common political goal. The concept of sustainability the way most of us use it today emerged in the 1960s in response to concern about environmental degradation. This degradation was seen by some to result from the consequences of industrial development, increase in consumption and population growth and by others as poor resource management or the result of underdevelopment and poverty. Sustainability was linked to ethical concerns, typically involving a commitment to justice between generations involving issues such as equal distribution of wealth, working conditions and human rights, and possibly between humans and nonhumans, as discussed in chapters of Robert Garner, Holmes Rolston III and Haydn Washington. We can distinguish between different types of sustainability, for example between social (in terms of promoting equality, health, human rights), economic (in terms of sustaining people’s welfare, equitable division of resources) and environmental (in terms of sustaining nature or natural resources for humans and for nonhuman species) sustainability, as well as combinations of them. The study of sustainability involves multidisciplinary approaches, anthropology, political ecology, philosophy and ethics and environmental science. This type of multidisciplinary combination enables us to explore this new form of institutionalized sustainability science in a neoliberal age of environmental knowledge production and sustainability practice. This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge/CRC Press in "Sustainability: Key Issues" on 07/19/15, available online: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203109496 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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In reflecting on Dutch Christmas shoppers, this article will discuss environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), postmaterialist values hypothesis, and ecological modernization theory. According to the EKC hypothesis, while at the initial stages of industrialization material resources are often used unsustainably, continuing industrialization leads to a threshold after which lead to progressively more sustainable technologies. According to the postmaterialist values hypothesis, only wealthier societies can ‘afford’ to care about the environment, assuming that wealth will lead to development of greater concern about and valuation of environment. Finally, ecological modernization theory postulates that environmental conditions improve with advanced technological development and suggests that enlightened self-interest, economy and ecology can be favourably combined and that productive use of natural resources can be a source of future growth. In generalizing economic, political and social trends in relation to consumption in The Netherlands, the aim of this article is to consider the consequences of Western-style consumption for the enterprise of global development. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2013.05.004 https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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This research explores the attitudes of children from different socio-economic backgrounds towards cars. This paper explores their projected choices and motivations in the context of (1) post-materialist values; (2) economic constraints; and (3) social status theories; and draws upon survey research among 140 upper elementary school children in the Netherlands between September 2010 and January 2011. Comparative analysis shows that there are significant differences in attitudes of children from different socio-economic backgrounds. Pupils from the affluent predominantly ethnically Dutch schools showed greater awareness of and concern about their parents’ and general use of cars, and less desire to own a car in the future, children from less economically advantaged schools demonstrated lower environmental awareness and concern and more desire to own a car in the future. This study is based on a small sample and indicates a need for large-scale follow-up study of children's attitudes towards cars. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2012.07.010 https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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