ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces some of the scholarly contributions that have shaped sustainability’s definition. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight several of the major ideas that have added to the sustainability discussion. While the worlds of research and practice can seem disconnected, there is a relationship that exists between action, research, and theory. Environmental professionals, governments, companies, and NGOs develop and adopt approaches, methods, or concepts in the name of being more sustainable. Scholars use these material outcomes to develop research meant to determine whether in fact they have the potential to sustain our world for future generations or whether new ideas are needed to achieve sustainability. It is primarily within the academy that ideas are developed, questioned, and tested. The result is (one hopes) a richer understanding of how a physical or social phenomenon operates. These understandings in turn influence and inform practitioners, creating a giveand-take relationship between the two. The academy has in this fashion influenced the concept of sustainable development and helped define sustainability; though, as we shall see throughout the chapter, some ideas have permeated the “real world” of practice more than others. Our aim here is to introduce some of the more influential and popular ideas that have taken hold outside of the academy as well as within it.
