Download or read book Technology and the Contested Meanings of Sustainability written by Aidan Davison and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2001-04-19 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This transdisciplinary inquiry presents a new way of thinking about sustainability and technology that takes us beyond the familiar preoccupation with ecoefficiency, and toward the contested moral question of what most nourishes our ability to care for our world. In contrast to the technocratic aim of controlling a perilous future, the author proposes that we develop the practical craft of sustenance. Beginning with debates in environmental policy, he draws upon recent philosophical interest in ecology, technology, and moral experience to argue that the challenge of sustainability is that of undermining those traditions that present technology as somehow external to our inherent moral ambiguity. This discussion responds to the work of Langdon Winner, Albert Borgmann, Charles Taylor, Martin Heidegger, David Abram, and others.
Download or read book Technology and the Contested Meanings of Sustainability written by Aidan Davison and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2001-05-16 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that sustainability requires more than economic and technological efficiency.
Download or read book Just Technology written by Thomas J. Siller and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-05-31 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To address the complexity of today's global challenges requires new ways of thinking. The idea that technology is always the best, maybe only, approach worth taking needs to be reconsidered. Sustainable approaches must also draw from non technological areas. To that end, this book introduces the idea of just technology by rephrasing the idea of just war in order to include concepts of sustainability in future engineering design. The book begins by defining justice and relating these definitions to technology. This is followed by illustrating several notions of sustainability and the awareness that needs to be focused on societal challenges due to the finite resources available in the natural world. Four questions are enumerated to be addressed in order to qualify as a just use of technology: (1) Is the harm being inflicted by the problem on the community, the environment, or humanity, in general lasting, serious, and certain? (2) Have all alternative solutions been investigated first, including non-technology-based solutions? Technology is the last choice, not the first! (3) Do we have confidence in the successful implementation of this technological solution? and (4) Is the potential harm from the technological solution potentially worse than the issue being addressed? Have all unintended consequences been considered that could arise from the technological solution? The book ends with a description for implementing these questions into the traditional engineering design process. Examples are included for reflection and help to understand how the design process proceeds.
Download or read book Technology written by Aidan Davison and published by . This book was released on 2023-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is technology? The answer seems obvious. Technology is the chair you sit on, the roof above you, and the airplane above that. A speaker fills the room with sound, wifi connects you with people around the world, a pill dissolves within you. Technology, it would seem, consists of things humans design and manufacture. Yet computers and books are not just objects that we make and use. They arise from, and become part of, our lived experience. Their existence is lodged in human needs and wants. And every technology alters the ways in which human needs and wants take shape. Technology straddles the boundary between facts and values. It binds together objects and subjects. As a result, two vital and inseparable questions will occupy us in this book. How do we make material worlds? And how do these worlds make us? In addition, debates about sustainability and development in the Anthropocene require new habits of inquiry into technology. Modern societies typically treat technology as neutral objects that put science into action. Experts use objective measures of development and sustainability to sort good technologies from bad. In contrast, this book argues that the Anthropocene, the technological remaking of the Earth, calls us to attend to the way technological practices shape what it means to be human. How are we made, or changed, as we alter the planet's climate and ecosystems?Ranging across disciplines, this introduction to technology links together big questions of planetary futures with practical, everyday realities. It points towards a technological practice of sustainability that does not divide facts from values or objects from subjects. And it suggests an understanding and practice of technology that we urgently need as dwellers in the Anthropocene.
Download or read book Sustainability Beyond Technology written by Pasi Heikkurinen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Current debates on sustainability are largely building on a problematic assumption that increasing technology use and advancement are a desired phenomenon, creating positive change in human organizations. This kind of techno-optimism prevails particularly in the discourses of ecological modernization and green growth, as well as in the attempts to design sustainable modes of production and consumption within growth-driven capitalism. This transdisciplinary book investigates the philosophical underpinnings of technology, presents a culturally sensitive critique of technology, and outlines feasible alternatives for sustainability beyond technology. By examining the conflicts and contradictions between technology and sustainability in human organizations, the book develops a novel way to conceptualize, confront and change technology in modern society. The book draws on a variety of scholarly disciplines, including humanities (philosophy and environmental history), social sciences (ecological economics, political economy, and ecology) and natural sciences (geology and thermodynamics) to contribute to sustainability theory and policy"--Publisher's description.
Download or read book The Illusory Boundary written by Martin Reuss and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2010-08-06 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This compelling new book challenges the view that a clear and unwavering boundary exists between nature and technology. Rejecting this dichotomy, the contributors show how the history of each can be united in a constantly shifting panorama where definitions of "nature" and "technology" alter and overlap.
Download or read book Sustainability written by Leslie Paul Thiele and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-10-05 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The pursuit of sustainability has generated lifestyle changes for individuals across the globe; innovations within the arts and sciences, business, design, engineering, and agriculture; historic policies and laws at municipal and state levels; and crucial international protocols and agreements. Yet the meaning of sustainability remains unsettled, and the term frequently serves as green veneer for business as usual rather than a driver of fundamental change. The second edition of this popular and lively book explores the concept and practice of sustainability through a broad range of current issues and debates. Fully revised and updated, the book integrates expanded global breadth with increased attention to the importance of local relationships and responsibilities, while illustrating that sustainability demands creativity as well as conservation. New Inquiry and Exploration sections with links to web-based resources are also included to help students probe and deepen central debates and topics. Sustainability presents a hopeful account of crucial opportunities while directly confronting the hurdles, disputes and challenges that lie ahead. It will be a valuable resource for students and general readers keen to grapple with one of the most pressing issues of our times.
Download or read book Partial Truths and Our Common Future written by Donald A. Crosby and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2018-08-20 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that a pluralistic understanding of truth can foster productive conversations about common concerns involving religion, science, ethics, politics, economics, and ecology without falling into relativism. In this book, Donald A. Crosby defends the idea that all claims to truth are at best partial. Recognizing this, he argues, is a necessary safeguard against arrogance, close-mindedness, and potentially violent reactions to differences of outlook and practice. Crosby demonstrates how partial truths are inevitably at work in conversations and debates about religion, science, morality, economics, ecology, and social and political progress. He then focuses on the concept in the discipline of philosophy, looking at a number of distinctions that are taken to be strictly binarythose between fact and value, continuity and novelty, rationalism and empiricism, mind and body, and good and eviland demonstrates how in all of these cases, each on its own can offer only an incomplete picture. Partial Truths and Our Common Future invites ongoing dialogue with others for the sake of mutual enlargements of understanding rather than mere civility, and provides incentive for continuing open-minded and shared inquiries into the important issues of life. This is a transdisciplinary philosophical work that moves with grace across traditions, time periods, and thinkers. It is a master class in the existential and public relevance of philosophy and a rare example of a book that is both timely and timeless. Michael S. Hogue, author of The Promise of Religious Naturalism
Download or read book Digital Technology and Sustainability written by Mike Hazas and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-22 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together diverse voices from across the field of sustainable human computer interaction (SHCI) to discuss what it means for digital technology to support sustainability and how humans and technology can work together optimally for a more sustainable future. Contemporary digital technologies are hailed by tech companies, governments and academics as leading-edge solutions to the challenges of environmental sustainability; smarter homes, more persuasive technologies, and a robust Internet of Things hold the promise for creating a greener world. Yet, deployments of interactive technologies for such purposes often lead to a paradox: they algorithmically "optimize" heating and lighting of houses without regard to the dynamics of daily life in the home; they can collect and display data that allow us to reflect on energy and emissions, yet the same information can cause us to raise our expectations for comfort and convenience; they might allow us to share best practice for sustainable living through social networking and online communities, yet these same systems further our participation in consumerism and contribute to an ever-greater volume of electronic waste.By acknowledging these paradoxes, this book represents a significant critical inquiry into digital technology’s longer-term impact on ideals of sustainability. Written by an interdisciplinary team of contributors this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of human computer interaction and environmental studies.
Download or read book Open Source Systems Long Term Sustainability written by Imed Hammouda and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-09-22 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International IFIP WG 2.13 Conference on Open Source Systems, OSS 2012, held in Hammamet, Tunisia, in September 2012. The 15 revised full papers presented together with 17 lightning talks, 2 tool demonstration papers, 6 short industry papers, 5 posters and 2 workshop papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 63 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on collaboration and forks in OSS projects, community issues, open education and peer-production models, integration and architecture, business ecosystems, adoption and evolution of OSS, OSS quality, OSS in different domains, product development, and industrial experiences.
Download or read book Material Geographies of Household Sustainability written by Andrew Gorman-Murray and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-13 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charting new research directions, this book constructs a series of imperatives for linking culturally informed research around household sustainability with policy and planning. The household, or 'home', is a critical scale for understanding activities that connect individual behaviours and societal attitudes. The focus on the household in this collection provides a window into the sheer diversity of homemaking and maintenance activities that entail resource use. These practices have affective or emotive dimensions as well as habitual aspects. Diversity, innovation and change at the household scale is often missed in policy approaches which assume that simplistic economic motivations drive demand and this can in turn be 'managed' through regulation or market pricing. The research challenge extends beyond describing existing unsustainable economies driving resource intensive behaviour to consider realistic options for transformations in cultural practices, material relationships and, ultimately, the political economies they sit within. Without change in these systems, government initiatives to promote ecological modernisation run the risk of simply green-washing the very economies of consumption that currently drive unsustainable practices. Social and cultural change at the household level is critical to promoting sustainability at a range of wider scales.
Download or read book Sustainable Development of Energy Water and Environment Systems written by Naim Afgan and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2007 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainability is a new, important discourse aimed at promoting a new strategy in the development of energy, water and environmental (EWE) systems OCo the key components that affect the quality of life on our planet. It is becoming increasingly clear that the quest for sustainable development requires integrating economic, social, cultural, political and ecological factors. The behavior and properties of an EWE system arise not merely from the properties of its component elements, but also to a large degree also from the nature and intensity of their dynamic interlinkages. This volume helps clarify the complexity of these problems by providing a deeper understanding of the implications of the different aspects of sustainability. This work contains a collection of selected, peer-reviewed and state-of-the-art reflecting papers that were presented at the Third Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems that was held in June 5OCo10, 2005 in Dubrovnik, Croatia."
Download or read book Agency written by Florian Kossak and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-12-04 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting current thinking from practitioners and scholars from around the world, this book asks for a more active relationship between the humanities, the architectural profession, and society. Considering issues of agency, in particular the role of architectural research as an agency of transformation, the chapters here explore how humanities research can better contribute towards understanding current architectural needs, possibilities and capacities for action.
Download or read book The Handbook of Design for Sustainability written by Stuart Walker and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainability has emerged as a central issue for contemporary societies and for the world community as a whole. Furthermore, many of the social and environmental concerns that are embodied in the term 'sustainability' are directly or indirectly related to design. Designers help to define our human made environment - how it is produced, how it is used, and how long it endures. Despite some forty years of development and increased awareness of the critical relationships that exist between design decisions and modes of production, energy use, environmental impacts, the nature of work and human exploitation, design for sustainability is still not widely understood or followed. The Handbook of Design for Sustainability presents a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of this crucial subject - its development, its methods, its practices and its potential futures. Bringing together leading international scholars and new researchers to provide a substantive insight into the latest thinking and research within the field, The Handbook covers a breadth of historical and theoretical understandings and includes a series of original essays that explore methods and approaches for designers and design educators. The Handbook presents the first systematic overview of the subject that, in addition to methods and examples, includes historical perspectives, philosophical approaches, business analyses, educational insights and emerging thinking. It is an invaluable resource for design researchers and students as well as design practitioners and private and public sector organizations wishing to develop more sustainable directions.
Download or read book Reconstructing Sustainability Science written by Thaddeus R. Miller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The growing urgency, complexity and "wickedness" of sustainability problems—from climate change and biodiversity loss to ecosystem degradation and persistent poverty and inequality—present fundamental challenges to scientific knowledge production and its use. While there is little doubt that science has a crucial role to play in our ability to pursue sustainability goals, critical questions remain as to how to most effectively organize research and connect it to actions that advance social and natural wellbeing. Drawing on interviews with leading sustainability scientists, this book examines how researchers in the emerging, interdisciplinary field of sustainability science are attempting to define sustainability, establish research agendas, and link the knowledge they produce to societal action. Pairing these insights with case studies of innovative sustainability research centres, the book reformulates the sustainability science research agenda and its relationship to decision-making and social action. It repositions the field as a "science of design" that aims to enrich public reasoning and deliberation while also working to generate social and technological innovations for a more sustainable future. This timely book gives students, researchers and practitioners a valuable and unique analysis of the emergence of sustainability science, and both the opportunities and barriers faced by scientific efforts to contribute to social action.
Download or read book Water Societies and Technologies from the Past and Present written by Mark Altaweel and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2018-11-26 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today our societies face great challenges with water, in terms of both quantity and quality, but many of these challenges have already existed in the past. Focusing on Asia, Water Societies and Technologies from the Past and Present seeks to highlight the issues that emerge or re-emerge across different societies and periods, and asks what they can tell us about water sustainability. Incorporating cutting-edge research and pioneering field surveys on past and present water management practices, the interdisciplinary contributors together identify how societies managed water resource challenges and utilised water in ways that allowed them to evolve, persist, or drastically alter their environment. The case studies, from different periods, ancient and modern, and from different regions, including Egypt, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Southwest United States, the Indus Basin, the Yangtze River, the Mesopotamian floodplain, the early Islamic city of Sultan Kala in Turkmenistan, and ancient Korea, offer crucial empirical data to readers interested in comparing the dynamics of water management practices across time and space, and to those who wish to understand water-related issues through conceptual and quantitative models of water use. The case studies also challenge classical theories on water management and social evolution, examine and establish the deep historical roots and ecological foundations of water sustainability issues, and contribute new grounds for innovations in sustainable urban planning and ecological resilience.
Download or read book The Best of the Independent Rhetoric and Composition Journals 2010 written by Steve Parks and published by Parlor Press LLC. This book was released on 2011-03-26 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE BEST OF THE INDEPENDENT RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION JOURNALS 2010 represents the result of a nationwide conversation—beginning with journal editors, but expanding to teachers, scholars and workers across the discipline of Rhetoric and Composition—to select essays that showcase the innovative and transformative work now being published in the field’s independent journals. Representing both print and digital journals in the field, the essays featured here explore issues ranging from classroom practice to writing in global and digital contexts, from writing workshops to community activism. Together, the essays provide readers with a rich understanding of the present and future direction of the field.
