
Treading Softly
Paths to Ecological Order
Thomas Princen(Author)
MIT Press
Published on 31. March 2010
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-0-262-01417-5 (ISBN)
Description
We are living beyond our means, running up debts both economic and ecological,
consuming the planet's resources at rates not remotely sustainable. But it's hard to imagine a
different way. How can we live without cheap goods and easy credit? How can we consume without
consuming the systems that support life? How can we live well and live within our means? In
Treading Softly, Thomas Princen helps us imagine an alternative. We need, he
says, a new normal, an ecological order that is actually economical with resources, that embraces
limits, that sees sustainable living not as a "lifestyle" but as a long-term connection to
fresh, free-flowing water, fertile soil, and healthy food.
The goal would be to
live well by living well within the capacities of our resources. Princen doesn't offer a quick fix
-- there's no list of easy ways to save the planet to hang on the refrigerator. He gives us instead
a positive, realistic sense of the possible, with an abundance of examples, concepts, and tools for
imagining, then realizing, how to live within our biophysical means.
consuming the planet's resources at rates not remotely sustainable. But it's hard to imagine a
different way. How can we live without cheap goods and easy credit? How can we consume without
consuming the systems that support life? How can we live well and live within our means? In
Treading Softly, Thomas Princen helps us imagine an alternative. We need, he
says, a new normal, an ecological order that is actually economical with resources, that embraces
limits, that sees sustainable living not as a "lifestyle" but as a long-term connection to
fresh, free-flowing water, fertile soil, and healthy food.
The goal would be to
live well by living well within the capacities of our resources. Princen doesn't offer a quick fix
-- there's no list of easy ways to save the planet to hang on the refrigerator. He gives us instead
a positive, realistic sense of the possible, with an abundance of examples, concepts, and tools for
imagining, then realizing, how to live within our biophysical means.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass.
United States
Publishing group
MIT Press Ltd
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
Illustrations
1 Tabelle
1 table
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 0 mm
Weight
363 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-262-01417-5 (9780262014175)
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E-Book
02/2010
MIT Press
€24.49
Available for download
Person
Thomas Princen is Associate Professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment. He is the author of The Logic of Sufficiency (2005) and the coeditor of Confronting Consumption (2002), both published by the MIT Press and both winners of the Harold and Margaret Sprout Award for best book on international environmental affairs.