Sustainable Resource Management - Reality or Illusion? (Hardcover, illustrated edition)

This provocative book examines the broad and complex conceptual issues that must be addressed in order to achieve sustainable development. It begins with several case studies that reflect innovative policy and strategic initiatives within the corporate and public sectors, followed by a sector-by-sector analysis of specific opportunities and challenges within the critical resource domains of energy and global climate, human health, fisheries, agriculture, biodiversity, and forestry. It concludes by discussing how to measure and assess national economic and corporate activity, and whether humanity is itself capable of making the changes necessary to guarantee its own survival. The contributors illustrate, on the one hand, the spark of human ingenuity and invention which holds out a promise of success, but expose, on the other hand, the mindsets, myths and new conventional wisdom which characterize the emerging domain of sustainable development and which pose a daunting and potentially insurmountable challenge to its achievement. They determine that nothing short of a revolution in the way we produce goods and services, structure corporate decision making, and view our relationship with the natural environment will guarantee sustainable development. Central to this conclusion is a realization that many of the reigning beliefs that guide our actions today must be critically re-examined and, if necessary, rejected and replaced. A challenge to the tenets of current conventional wisdom, Sustainable Resource Management will be of great interest to students and scholars of business, resource and environmental economics, and resource management.