A Sustainable World

See below for links to texts of two chapters and excerpts from the Introduction

"Should be read by anyone interested in the future of the world's human/ economic/ environmental interactions"

— Choice (American Library Association)

"This book provides perhaps the most coherent answer we have yet had [to clarifying the concept of sustainability]"

— Lynton Keith Caldwell in Environmental Conservation

[Note: The California Institute of Public Affairs (CIPA) became InterEnvironment Institute in February 2010. CIPA continues as a program of IE. See the home page for details.]

"Sustainability" and "sustainable development" have become the guiding principles for environmental policy and international development, but many questions are being asked about these concepts. What do they really mean? How can we get beyond generalities and put them into practice? How do we know if we are moving toward a sustainable world?

In this state-of-the-art volume, seventeen leading authorities from five continents address this issue from a variety of perspectives--with the aim of translating ideas into practice.

A Sustainable World: Defining and Measuring Sustainable Development. 1995. Edited by Thaddeus C. Trzyna with the assistance of Julia K. Osborn. 272 pages, 6" x 9" (15 cm x 23 cm). ISBN 1-880028-02-6. Price in U.S. and Canada: $28.00. Price abroad: $47.00 by surface mail or $57.00 by air mail, postpaid (includes handling charge).

Foreword, Ashok Khosla, Development Alternatives (New Delhi)

About the Sponsors and Contributors

Introduction, Thaddeus C. Trzyna, California Institute of Public Affairs; Chairman, IUCN Commission on Environmental Strategy and Planning

Sustainability: Rhetoric or Reality? David A. Munro, consultant; former Director General, IUCN

Knowledge for Sustainable Development: What Do We Need to Know? Stephen Viederman, Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation (New York)

Authentic Development: Is It Sustainable? Denis Goulet, University of Notre Dame

Sustainabilism and Twelve Other "Isms" That Threaten the Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean, Nicolo Gligo, United Nations Development Programme and ECLAC (Santiago)

Part II: Measuring Progress

Monitoring for Sustainability, Eric Rodenburg, World Resources Institute

Toward Environmentally Sustainable Development: Measuring Progress, John C. O'Connor, The World Bank

The European Sustainability Index Project, Tjeerd Deelstra, International Institute for the Urban Environment

Assessing Progress toward Sustainability: A New Approach, IUCN International Assessment Team

Limitations in Measuring Ecosystem Sustainability, Richard A. Carpenter, consultant; retired, East-West Center

Environmental Indicators for Latin America and the Caribbean, Manuel Winograd, ESAG (Bariloche, Argentina)

National Economic Indicators and Sustainable Development, Fulai Sheng, World Wide Fund for Nature

Poverty Alleviation and Sustainability: The Case of Zimbabwe, Calvin Nhira, University of Zimbabwe

Linking Sustainability Indicators to Performance Goals at National and Subnational Levels, Walter H. Corson, Global Tomorrow Coalition

Learning Our Way Out: Indicators of Social Environmental Learning, Matthias Finger, Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration (Lausanne, Switzerland) and James Kilcoyne, Jr., Columbia University