At the edge: sustainable development in the 21st century

• Winner, 2001 Outstanding Research Achievement, Government of Canada Policy Research Initiative

At the Edge is a rich and evocative call to action at a time when new ideas are urgently needed. Mandatory reading for policy analysts and decision makers in the public, private, and volunteer sectors, it will be equally useful to scholars, teachers, students, and others interested in creating sustainable societies.

A Dynamic Balance. Social Capital and Sustainable Development

Co-authored with Jenny Onyx, University of Sydney

Sustainable development is often viewed as having three imperatives: ecological, economic, and social. A Dynamic Balance illuminates the importance of understanding the social dimension as it examines the links between social capital and sustainable development within the overall context of local community development.

Looking at case studies in both Australia and Canada, it draws upon lessons that can be learned to reconnect large urban centres and smaller communities. Given the number of small communities in both countries struggling to diversify from single-resource economies in a context of increasing globalization, the analysis touches on several critical public policy issues. The contributors argue that the key strategies for communities must be embedded in the dialectics of sustainable development. Unless this critical imperative is met, single-resource economy communities will continue to face ecological, social, and economic collapse.

A Dynamic Balance is a timely and provocative call for reconciliation and reconnection within and between communities. It makes unique links between two schools of thought, social capital and sustainable community development, showing how both are interdependent and can be mobilized by governments for greater agency in communities everywhere.

Communities, Sustainability and Development across Canada

Co-authored with John Pierce, Simon Fraser University

What is a sustainable community? The pressing need to answer this simple question is what prompted John Pierce and Ann Dale to gather the essays in this volume. Communities, Development, and Sustainability across Canada is a timely synthesis of work on how Canadian communities can achieve sustainable development. It bridges the gap between theory and praxis and brings together academics, policy makers, and community activists, all of whom have argued for increased local participation in sustainable community development. Communities have become the weak link in efforts to refashion relations between the environment and the economy. The goal of this book is not simply to describe problems but also to suggest answers, not simply to offer theory but also to promote action, so that Canadian communities can better achieve sustain-able development.

Linking Industry and Ecology

Co-authored with Ray Cole, Dalhousie University and James Tansey, UBC

It might, at first glance, seem to many that industry and ecology make strange bedfellows. For proponents of sustainable development, however, such a union is crucial. How else are we to make the industries that are so central to modern societies consistent with our visions of a sustainable future?

Linking Industry and Ecology explores the origins, promise, and relevance of the emerging field of industrial ecology. It situates industrial ecology within the broader range of environmental management strategies and concepts, from the practices of pollution prevention through life cycle management, to the more fundamental shift toward dematerialization and ecological design. The book makes a compelling argument for the need to think ecologically to develop innovative and competitive industrial policy.

Achieving Sustainable Development

Co-authored with John Robinson, UBC

Achieving Sustainable Development explores how well Canada has met the Earth Summit's targets and attempts to find ways in which the public can become involved in such issues. Its authors stress the importance of integration of information from various fields and seek to stimulate the exchange of knowledge among the academic community, government, non-governmental organizations and industry. The contributors look far beyond merely identifying and analyzing selected issues and problems. To facilitate public discussion and to affect policy development, at least one initiative is proposed and detailed for each problem identified.