ABSTRACT
The concept of sustainable development relies on a number of underlying themes that help determine its nature and application. As we have seen these viewpoints arise from the environmental movement and the “small planet” consciousness of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and also from the much longer-term move away from the modernist perspectives of the mid-twentieth century and the Cartesian mind-set that gained sway during the Enlightenment (and which has been reinforced by the ideologies and institutional forces of capitalism). Rooted in the ecological worldview discussed in the previous chapter, interest in sustainability has emerged as individuals and organizations seek to address the shortcomings of the modernist worldview and its models of development.
