This timely volume recognizes that traditional policy approaches to reduce human impacts on the environment through technological change - for example, emphasizing resource efficiency and the development of renewable energy sources - are insufficient to meet the most pressing sustainability challenges of the twenty-first century. Instead, the editors and contributors argue that we must fundamentally reconfigure our lifestyles and social institutions if we are to make the transition toward a truly sustainable future. These expert contributions pinpoint specific areas in which innovation will be required. These include economic policies, socio-technical systems of production and consumption, and dominant social practices. Drawing on these and other diverse areas of scholarship, this fascinating book highlights new conceptual frameworks for achieving the twin sustainability goals of decreased resource use and enhanced individual and societal well-being. Students, professors and policymakers in ecological economics, innovation studies, environmental policy and many other related fields will find much of interest in this pathbreaking volume.
Contents: Preface 1. Societal Innovations in a Constrained World: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives Halina Szejnwald Brown, Philip J. Vergragt, and Maurie J. Cohen PART I: NEW ECONOMICS 2. The Macroeconomics of Development without Throughout Growth Jonathan M. Harris 3. Ecological Macroeconomics: Implications for the Roles of Consumer-Citizens Inge Ropke 4. Going for a Better Life John Stutz 5. Welcome to the Consumption Line: Sustainability, Social Organization, and the Wage-Price Gap Emanuel Ubert and Michael M. Bell PART II: SOCIO-TECHNICAL TRANSITIONS 6. The Dual Challenge of Sustainability Transitions: Different Trajectories and Criteria Rene Kemp and Harro van Lente 7. Grassroots Innovations for Sustainable Energy: Exploring Niche-Development Processes Among Community-Energy Initiatives Sabine Hielscher, Gill Seyfang and Adrian Smith 8. Sustainable Consumption, Energy, and Failed Transitions: The Problem of Adaptation David J. Hess 9. Clusters in Transition: Analysis of a Sustainable Energy-Cluster Initiative in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA Jennie C. Stephens and Stephen M. McCauley PART III: SOCIAL PRACTICE THEORIES 10. Sustainable Lifestyles in a New Economy: A Practice Theoretical Perspective on Change Behavior Campaigns and Sustainability Issues Bente Halkier 11. The Cultural Dimension of Sustainable Consumption Practices: An Exploration in Theory and Policy Gert Spaargaren 12. Taking Social Practice Theories on the Road: A Mixed-Methods Case Study of Sustainable Transportation Emily Kennedy, Harvey Krahn and Naomi T. Krogman Index