Understanding Sustainable Development: John Blewitt

Sustainable development is notoriously difficult to grasp for students and professionals. Multidimensional, encompassing social, ecological and economic theories, policies and practice, it can be a maze of complexity and contradiction.

This powerful textbook, by a topic instructor in the field, is the first to unravel sustainable development and provide readers with a deep understanding so often missing from other texts. The book adopts a multi-perspective approach designed specifically to allow access to the topic from a wide range of educational and professional backgrounds and to develop understanding of a diversity of approaches and traditions at different levels. It features multiple entry points, explains jargon and explores controversies. It also provides wide-ranging boxed examples from the local to the global, extra readings and online material for course leaders, motivated students and self-learners.

Review

A significant achievement in addressing a complex contemporary issue in such a clear and optimistic way. Will it make a difference to our understanding? I think it will.

–Stephen Martin, Visiting Professor, Center for Complexity and Change, The Open University

This is an immensely important book that brings into a cohesive and dialogic whole, the multiple strands that do – or should – feed into understandings of sustainable development. It draws upon worldviews and perspectives often marginalized or ignored in the adrenaline rush to make sustainability a living reality. A ‘must read’ for both those new to and those steeped in the field.

–David Selby, Director, Centre for Sustainable Futures, University of Plymouth

Presents a comprehensive account of the sustainability territory, successfully integrating ideas from science, philosophy, sociology and cultural studies in its explication of key topics within this field. It will prove invaluable for those of us from a range of disciplines and perspectives who are trying to make sense of what ‘sustainability’ means, and what actions we might take to realize it within our communities, organizations and homes.

–Donna Ladkin, Senior Lecturer in Organizational Learning and Leadership at Cranfield University School of Management

Understanding Sustainable Development is a major work and it largely achieves a very difficult task. It comes closer than most to that elusive ideal: the comprehensive book on a broadly based interpretation of sustainable development!

–Julian Agyeman, Associate Professor and Chair, Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University

Scientists, engineers, technologists, mathematicians, and economists will find the text useful to see how their efforts have been interpreted by others.’ Experimental Agriculture ‘I found it an excellent refresher and reminder of basic concepts, issues and historical background..I enjoyed this book and I continue to dip into it

–AJH, Eagle Bulletin, 2009.

About the Author

John

Blewitt is Director of Professional Development and Innovation, School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of Exeter. He is the author of The Ecology of Learning (2006) and co-editor of The Sustainability Curriculum (2004)

Product details

• Publisher‏ : ‎ Earthscan Publications Ltd.; 1st edition (August 1, 2008)
• Language‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback‏ : ‎ 306 pages
• ISBN-10‏ : ‎ 1844074544
• ISBN-13‏ : ‎ 978-1844074549
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
• Dimensions‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 1 x 9.5 inches

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Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace prize laureate who helped end apartheid in South Africa, has died aged 90. BBC South Africa correspondent Nomsa Maseko looks back at his life.

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The Covid-19 pandemic has resurfaced many tough reminders about the persistence of healthcare inequity in the United States and around the world.

On December 12th, the United Nations, global advocates, and others recognized International Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day and called for investments that will ensure access to affordable, quality healthcare for all. The Rockefeller Foundation has long championed UHC, from investing in health care accessibility through the Transforming Health Systems initiative over a decade ago, to its ongoing efforts to end the current pandemic and prevent future ones through the Pandemic Prevention Institute.

Underlying these efforts is the smart use of data to save lives. As the pieces below highlight, gathering the kind of information needed to detect, track and respond to pandemics requires global collaboration, outreach, and trust between governments, scientists, organizations, and communities around the world.

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Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African anti-apartheid icon, has died at the age of 90. In 1984 Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work fighting to end white minority rule in South Africa. After the fall of apartheid, Archbishop Tutu chaired the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, where he pushed for restorative justice. He was a leading voice for human rights and peace around the world. He opposed the Iraq War and condemned the Israeli occupation in Palestine, comparing it to apartheid South Africa. We reair two interviews Archbishop Tutu did on Democracy Now!, as well as two speeches on the Iraq War and the climate crisis.

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021

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BBC World Service – Newshour, WHO warns: you can’t boost your way out of the pandemic

(Photo: Shoppers pass a poster urging people to get a booster shot against Covid-19 in Bristol, England. Credit: Ben Birchall/PA Wire)

The head of the WHO says no country can rely on booster shots to get out of the Covid pandemic. We get an assessment from the organisation’s special envoy on Covid-19, Dr David Nabarro.

Global National: Dec. 26, 2021 | World remembers anti-apartheid leader Desmond Tutu

Global News– 26 December 2021

South African anti-apartheid leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu died this weekend at the age of 90, leaving behind a powerful legacy. As á ’ reports, he’s remembered around the world for a life spent fighting for equality.

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South Africa is beginning seven days of mourning for Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Desmond Tutu, who has died aged 90. A series of events are being planned to mark his passing, including a state funeral on January 1. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid, during white minority rule. Al Jazeera’s @Jillian Wolf reports from Cape Town, South Africa.