This thoughtful and original study throws important critical light on the dominant orthodoxies about sustainable development, and suggests a radically new direction. Foster argues compellingly that present approaches embody floating standards and bad faith, trapping societies into inaction. I suspect this is a seminal piece of work. Professor Robin Grove-White, former Chair of Greenpeace UK We all have a nagging concern that what international corporations and governments term 'sustainable' is not sustainable at all. John Fosters clear and beautifully written text shows the deep flaws in current approaches and proposes a reassessment of what true sustainability really implies. Chris Goodall, Chair of Dynmark International and author of How to Live a Low-Carbon Life This comprehensive and yet very readable book will go a long way towards puncturing some of the glib environmentalisms of our moment, and perhaps towards helping us imagine deeper and more thoroughgoing alternatives that might actually work! Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and The End of Nature 'Brilliantly and ironically written, this book shades a bright light on most foggy areas around the concept of sustainability. Those fastidious obscure points do not fit properly in the reassuring technical solutions to Climate Change. Foster puts a name on those shapeless shadows that inevitably induce the sensation of something being wrong.' Italian Insider Sustainable development thinking got environmental issues onto the agenda but it may now be stopping us from taking serious action on climate change and other crucial planetary issues. Sustainable developments attempted deal between present and future will always collapse under the pressure of now because the needs of the present always win out. Inevitably, this means movable targets and action that will always fall short of what we need. Ultimately, sustainable development is the pursuit of a mirage, the politics of never getting there. To escape the illusion, we must break through to a new way of understanding sustainability by focusing on the deep needs of the present, not slippery obligations to the future. Rising to the carbon challenge now, not trying to micro-manage the longer term. Looking to the science for orders of magnitude and direction, not a gameplan. Harnessing the short-term dynamics of capitalism to the cause of learning our way forward. This book outlines an alternative to the mainstream and offers the kind of bold new thinking on energy usage, governance, education and the role of enterprise that we need to win the coming war on climate change.

A critical examination of the promise and reality of the UN Sustainable Development Goal (#1) that seeks to eradicate poverty.

This thoughtful and original study throws important critical light on the dominant orthodoxies about sustainable development, and suggests a radically new direction. Foster argues compellingly that present approaches embody floating standards and bad faith, trapping societies into inaction. I suspect this is a seminal piece of work. Professor Robin Grove-White, former Chair of Greenpeace UK We all have a nagging concern that what international corporations and governments term 'sustainable' is not sustainable at all. John Fosters clear and beautifully written text shows the deep flaws in current approaches and proposes a reassessment of what true sustainability really implies. Chris Goodall, Chair of Dynmark International and author of How to Live a Low-Carbon Life This comprehensive and yet very readable book will go a long way towards puncturing some of the glib environmentalisms of our moment, and perhaps towards helping us imagine deeper and more thoroughgoing alternatives that might actually work! Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and The End of Nature 'Brilliantly and ironically written, this book shades a bright light on most foggy areas around the concept of sustainability. Those fastidious obscure points do not fit properly in the reassuring technical solutions to Climate Change. Foster puts a name on those shapeless shadows that inevitably induce the sensation of something being wrong.' Italian Insider Sustainable development thinking got environmental issues onto the agenda but it may now be stopping us from taking serious action on climate change and other crucial planetary issues. Sustainable developments attempted deal between present and future will always collapse under the pressure of now because the needs of the present always win out. Inevitably, this means movable targets and action that will always fall short of what we need. Ultimately, sustainable development is the pursuit of a mirage, the politics of never getting there. To escape the illusion, we must break through to a new way of understanding sustainability by focusing on the deep needs of the present, not slippery obligations to the future. Rising to the carbon challenge now, not trying to micro-manage the longer term. Looking to the science for orders of magnitude and direction, not a gameplan. Harnessing the short-term dynamics of capitalism to the cause of learning our way forward. This book outlines an alternative to the mainstream and offers the kind of bold new thinking on energy usage, governance, education and the role of enterprise that we need to win the coming war on climate change.

This text traces the evolution of sustainable development and climate change from the time it emerged in international consultations and agreements. The three sections of the book, focusing on the framework, climate change and sustainable development, seek to cover the essentials of the politics of natural resource usage at the global level. The book explores the evolution of sustainable development and climate change within the framework of the United Nations, and the way the concept has been defined through intergovernmental meetings, agreements and consensus within the multilateral system. It also explores the best ways of reducing the risk to the planet while enabling societies to pursue sustainable development paths. The challenges call for a transformation of social systems to facilitate a broadly acceptable change. The book also explores the adoption of low-carbon models different from the high-carbon socio-technical systems and related social practices.

Defines, analyzes, critiques, and proposes new policy solutions for achieving sustainable development.

The sustainability discourse and policy paradigm have failed to deliver. In particular, they have failed to avert the dangerously disruptive climate change which is now inevitable. So, if there is still a case for some transformed or revitalised version of sustainability, that case must now surely be made in full acknowledgment of deep-seated paradigm-failure to date. But if we really take ourselves to be living in a post-sustainable world, the issue of ‘what next?’ must be faced, and the hard questions no longer shirked. What options for political and personal action will remain open on a tragically degraded planet? How will economic and community life, political and social leadership and education be different in such a world? What will the geopolitics (of crisis, migration and conflict) look like? Where does widespread denial come from, how might it be overcome, and are there any grounds for hope that don’t rest on it? The urgent challenge now is to confront such questions honestly. This collection of essays by thinkers from a diversity of fields including politics, philosophy, sociology, education and religion, makes a start. This book was originally published as a special issue of Global Discourse.