Setting the Stage for Sustainabilty
A Citizen's Handbook
By Chris Maser, Charles R. Beaton, Kevin M. Smith
Series Editor: Chris Maser
Published May 14th 1998 by CRC Press – 304 pages
Description
As humans, we make choices. With change as a constant, we are continually presented with a number of choices, and we must choose. The change represented by the divergence of humanity from the rest of the world is rapidly growing, and in need of transformation. Setting the Stage for Sustainable Community Development is a guide for that transformation, which can help to create a sense of "place" where it did not previously exist.
This invaluable text looks at resolving environmental conflicts through a "transformative" rather than a "problem-solving" approach. The transformative approach emphasizes the capacity of facilitation for personal growth. The text analyzes good and bad institutionalized social patterns in an ecological sense. The authors believe that through positive thinking and the willingness to take risks, we can become creative forces in our communities and in the world.
Contents
Preface
True Community is Founded on a Sense of Place, History, and Trust
Local Community Under Stress
Shades of Community, A Lesson from Birds
The Existence of Community Depends on How We Treat One Another
Social/Environmental Sustainability and Conflict
Can Destructive Conflicts be Resolved?
Resolving Destructive Environmental Conflict
Facilitation at the Crossroad
Compromise and the Point of Balance
A Curriculum of Compassion and Justice
Language as a Tool
Silence and the Need to be Heard
The Basic Elements of Communication
Barriers to Communication
Good Communication
Understanding Some Economic Concepts
Identifying Our World View
Economic Growth from the Planetary Scale to the Personal
The General Role of Semantics
The Terms
An Economy in a Nutshell
Economic Feasibility
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Between People and the Environment
Between People in the Present and those of the Future
Democracy as the Context for Social Relationships
The Role of Democratic Government
Through the Eyes of an Insect
Questions We Need to Ask
Visions, Goals, and Objectives
What are Some of the Questions that Need Asking as We Prepare to Embark on Our Journey Toward Sustainable Community Development?
What Sources of Energy are Available to Our Community?
What Social Capital is Available within Our Community?
How Can Specialties be Sustainably Fit into a General Community?
What is Necessary to Build a Community in an Intelligent, Moral Way?
When is Enough, Enough?
Are the Consequences of our Decisions Reversible, and if so, to What Degree?
How Will the Things we Want to Introduce into Our Community's Environment Affect Its Future?
How Much Waste can we Convert into Food for Microorganisms?
Will Planning Benefit us as a Community?
Why Monitor for Sustainability?
Summary and Conclusion
End
Related Subjects
Name: Setting the Stage for Sustainabilty: A Citizen's Handbook (Paperback) – CRC Press
Description: By Chris Maser, Charles R. Beaton, Kevin M. SmithSeries Editor: Chris Maser. As humans, we make choices. With change as a constant, we are continually presented with a number of choices, and we must choose. The change represented by the divergence of humanity from the rest of the world is rapidly growing, and in need of...
Categories: Ecology - Environment Studies
