Sustainability and Social Justice
Societal Innovation in a Constrained World: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives
Document Type
Book Chapter
Abstract
Several recent scientific assessments have offered persuasive evidence that the physical demands of contemporary patterns of energy and material consumption have begun to exceed critical biogeochemical thresholds and to jeopardize planetary systems (IPCC, 2007; Rockström et al., 2009; Aaronson, 2010). Current debates on appropriate policy responses evince skepticism about whether improvement in technological efficiency, including enhanced reliance on renewable energy sources, will alone be adequate to meet the demands of a global population projected to exceed nine billion by 2050. Although not impossible, in the words of Paul Raskin and his colleagues (2010, p. 2648) ‘the sustainability challenge presents, as well, the prospect of transcending technological solutions with a transformation in human values and restructuring of economic and governance institutions.’ Under these circumstances, a new conception of the future is gaining traction in the scientific community, one in which far-reaching innovations in both industrial production and societal consumption patterns are likely to be required.
Publication Title
Innovations in Sustainable Consumption
Publication Date
12-23-2013
First Page
1
Last Page
27
ISBN
9781781001257
DOI
10.4337/9781781001349.00009
Repository Citation
Brown, Halina Szejnwald; Vergragt, Philip J.; and Cohen, Maurie J., "Societal Innovation in a Constrained World: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives" (2013). Sustainability and Social Justice. 399.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_idce/399