Creating a Sustainable and Desirable Future : Insights from 45 Global Thought Leaders

The major challenge for the current generation of mankind is to develop a shared vision of a future that is both desirable to the vast majority of humanity and ecologically sustainable. Creating a Sustainable and Desirable Future offers a broad, critical discussion on what such a future should or can be, with global perspectives written by some of the world’s leading thinkers, including: Wendell Berry, Van Jones, Frances Moore Lappe, Peggy Liu, Hunter Lovins, Gus Speth, Bill McKibben, and many more.

Readership: Undergraduates, professionals, researchers, and anyone interested in what a sustainable and desirable future might look like.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Introduction
Chapter 1 Why We Need Visions of a Sustainable and Desirable World
Chapter 2 Envisioning a Sustainable World
Chapter 3 Why Everyone Should Be a Futurist?
Chapter 4 Think Like an Ecosystem, See Solutions

Part 2: Future Histories: Descriptions of a Sustainable and Desirable Future and How We Got There
Chapter 5 What Would a Sustainable and Desirable Economy-in-Society-in-Nature Look Like?
Chapter 6 Vision Statement for the Planet in 2050
Chapter 7 Scenes from the Great Transition
Chapter 8 Environmental History Exam 2052: The Last Half-Century
Chapter 9 A Virtual Visit to a Sustainable 2050
Chapter 10 Reflections on a Life Lived Well and Wisely
Chapter 11 The Great Turnaround: How Natural Capital Entered the Economy?
Chapter 12 How New Zealand Became a Green Leader?
Chapter 13 The New New York: 2050

Part 3: Pieces of the Puzzle: Elements of the World We Want
Chapter 14 Sustainability and Happiness: A Development Philosophy for Bhutan and the World
Chapter 15 Flourishing as a Goal of International Policy
Chapter 16 What Else?
Chapter 17 Let Us Envision Gender Equality: Nothing Else is Working
Chapter 18 Another World: Finally Her(e)
Chapter 19 Policy Reform to 350
Chapter 20 The Great Transition to 350
Chapter 21 On Baselines That Need Shifting
Chapter 22 The Future of Roads: No Driving, No Emissions, Nature Reconnected
Chapter 23 The New Security
Chapter 24 Green Accounting: Balancing Environment and Economy
Chapter 25 A Vision of America the Possible

Part 4: Getting There
Chapter 26 The Way Forward: Survival 2100
Chapter 27 An Integrating Story for a Sustainable Future
Chapter 28 It Is Time to Fight the Status Quo
Chapter 29 Can We Avoid the Perfect Storm?
Chapter 30 Sustainable Shrinkage: Envisioning a Smaller, Stronger Economy
Chapter 31 How to Apply Resilience Thinking: In Australia and Beyond?
Chapter 32 Endangered Elements: Conserving the Building Blocks of Life
Chapter 33 Well-Being, Sufficiency, and Work-Time Reduction
Chapter 34 Millennium Consumption Goals (MCGs) at Rio+20: A Practical Step Toward Global Sustainability
Chapter 35 Happiness and Psychological Well-Being: Building Human Capital to Benefit Individuals and Society
Chapter 36 Time for a Bold Vision: A New, Green Economy
Chapter 37 A World That Works for All
Chapter 38 Fighting Poverty by Healing the Environment
Chapter 39 Re-Engineering the Planet: Three Steps to a Sustainable Free-Market Economy
Chapter 40 Raising Gross National Happiness through Agroforestry
Chapter 41 Building Bridges between Science and Policy to Achieve Sustainability
Chapter 42 Bringing Mozart to the Masses: Venezuela’s Music Revolution
Chapter 43 Creating the Schools of the Future: Education for a Sustainable Society
Chapter 44 A Values-Based Set of Solutions for the Next Generation
Chapter 45 Teaching a University Course in Sustainable Happiness
Chapter 46 The Time Has Come to Catalyze a Sustainable Consumerism Movement