The Invention of Sustainability

Nature and Destiny, c.1500–1870

Paul Warde (University of Cambridge)

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Hardback

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English

Cambridge University Press
12 July 2018

History of ideas; Environmentalist thought & ideology

The issue of sustainability, and the idea that economic growth and development might destroy its own foundations, is one of the defining political problems of our era. This groundbreaking study traces the emergence of this idea, and demonstrates how sustainability was closely linked to hopes for growth, and the destiny of expanding European states, from the sixteenth century. Weaving together aspirations for power, for economic development and agricultural improvement, and ideas about forestry, climate, the sciences of the soil and of life itself, this book sets out how new knowledge and metrics led people to imagine both new horizons for progress, but also the possibility of collapse. In the nineteenth century, anxieties about sustainability, often driven by science, proliferated in debates about contemporary and historical empires and the American frontier. The fear of progress undoing itself confronted society with finding ways to live with and manage nature.

By: Paul Warde (University of Cambridge)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 157mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 750g
ISBN: 9781107151147
ISBN 10: 1107151147
Pages: 416
Publication Date: 12 July 2018
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Paul Warde is a Reader in Environmental History at the University of Cambridge. His previous publications include Ecology, Economy and State Formation in Early Modern Germany (Cambridge, 2006), Power to the People. Energy in Europe over the Last Five Centuries (2013), and The Future of Nature: Documents of Global Change (2013).

Reviews for The Invention of Sustainability: Nature and Destiny, c.1500–1870

'This is an important book. A history of ideas that ranges widely over political economy, the state and the environment, The Invention of Sustainability is a great example of how to present a compelling argument while respecting complexity. Paul Warde brings together wonderfully rich evidence and makes his case lucidly. The result is a bold and very satisfying work.' David Blackbourn, author of The Conquest of Nature 'In this readable, erudite, and sophisticated book, Paul Warde persuasively argues that, although the current articulation of concerns about sustainability are relatively new, the concerns themselves have deep historical roots. He deftly combines environmental, economic, and intellectual history to show that analogous concerns with scarcity and depletion characterized the practices of pre-industrial farmers and foresters, as well as the policies of those responsible for the management of organic and mineral resources and the theories on which those policies were based.' Harriet Ritvo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology `This is an important book. A history of ideas that ranges widely over political economy, the state and the environment, The Invention of Sustainability is a great example of how to present a compelling argument while respecting complexity. Paul Warde brings together wonderfully rich evidence and makes his case lucidly. The result is a bold and very satisfying work.' David Blackbourn, author of The Conquest of Nature `In this readable, erudite, and sophisticated book, Paul Warde persuasively argues that, although the current articulation of concerns about sustainability are relatively new, the concerns themselves have deep historical roots. He deftly combines environmental, economic, and intellectual history to show that analogous concerns with scarcity and depletion characterized the practices of pre-industrial farmers and foresters, as well as the policies of those responsible for the management of organic and mineral resources and the theories on which those policies were based.' Harriet Ritvo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology