Sustainability Science - a Multidisciplinary Approach

Sustainability science is a new academic discipline emerging in response to threatened sustainability of the global environment. The purpose of this discipline is to help build a sustainable society by developing solutions to climate change, resource exhaustion, ecological destruction, and other environmental crises that threaten humanity. Sustainability science demands a realignment of existing academic disciplines. Whereas academia has moved inexorably toward fields of in-depth specialization, sustainability science seeks comprehensive, integrated solutions to complex problems. It therefore requires a restructuring of education and research that spans multiple disciplines. This volume offers diverse approaches to the development of a transdisciplinary perspective that embraces the natural, social, and human sciences in the quest for a sustainable society. It strives for a global perspective while incorporating the wisdom and experience of societies on the local level.