Norton Publishes New Sustainability Book

Sustainability is a nearly ubiquitous concept today, but few would be able to agree on a definition, let alone imagine what it would look like for humans to live sustainably on the Earth.  Georgia Tech Professor Emeritus, Bryan G. Norton has recently released a new book called Sustainable Values, Sustainable Change: A Guide to Environmental Decision Making (published by the University of Chicago Press) that attempts to outline a practical path towards sustainability.  Norton’s contention is that the path to sustainability cannot be guided by academic discourse on fixed definitions, or on utopian objectives, but will instead be achieved through experimentation, incremental learning, and adaptive management.  Toward that end, Norton offers a process-centric approach, informed by ten heuristics, to making better decisions through democratic governance that encompasses all stakeholders and activists and seeks to protect as many values as possible.  “Sustainability is a journey, not a destination,” sums up the action-oriented and pragmatic main idea of Norton’s book which may serve to guide communities toward sustainable living.

Bryan Norton is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has been at Georgia Tech since 1988 writing and teaching about inter-generational equity, sustainability theory, bio-diversity policy and valuation methods. His specialty is the integration of spatio-temporal scaling considerations into sustainability criteria.  Some of his recent research includes work on inter-generational impacts of policy choices, on endangered species policy, on sustainability theory, and on cultural aspects of environmental protection. He is the author of six books, and has contributed to and/or edited 34 others.  He has also authored or co-authored dozens of peer reviewed publications.

Professor Norton will introduce his new book, Sustainable Values: Sustainable Change, at a book signing on April 7 at 4:30 pm in Room 102 of the Clough building.