Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Part of: Synthesis digital library of engineering and computer science.

Series from website.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-94).

Acknowledgments -- Introduction --

1. The origins of sustainability -- 1.1 Global ecological crises -- 1.1.1 Population -- 1.1.2 Water -- 1.1.3 Soil -- 1.1.4 Deforestation -- 1.1.5 Biodiversity -- 1.1.6 Oil -- 1.1.7 Climate change -- 1.1.8 Ecological footprint -- 1.2 The environmental movement -- 1.2.1 Silent spring -- 1.2.2 Neo-Malthusians -- 1.2.3 Limits to growth -- 1.3 International development -- 1.4 Sustainable development -- 1.5 Defining sustainable development --

2. Ecological modernisation -- 2.1 Modernisation -- 2.2 Ecological modernisation -- 2.3 Environmental economics -- 2.4 Environmental impact assessment -- 2.5 Cleaner production -- 2.6 Life cycle assessment -- 2.7 Industrial ecology -- 2.8 Ecological design -- 2.9 Natural capitalism -- 2.10 Technological optimism --

3. Environmental ethics -- 3.1 Origins of environmental philosophy -- 3.2 Deep ecology -- 3.3 Social ecology -- 3.4 Ecological feminism -- 3.5 Environmental politics -- 3.6 Sustainable development -- 3.7 Engineering -- 3.8 Modernity --

4. Society and technology -- 4.1 Actor-network theory -- 4.2 Studying science and technology -- 4.3 Hybrid decisions -- 4.4 Hybrid engineering --

5. Engineering consumption -- 5.1 Modern infrastructure provision -- 5.2 Infrastructure, culture and consumption -- 5.3 Alternative infrastructure models -- 5.4 Engineering sustainable infrastructure --

6. Sustainable urban water systems -- 6.1 Modern water infrastructure -- 6.2 Hydrological limits -- 6.3 Managing demand -- 6.4 Appropriate infrastructure -- 6.4.1 Eliminate -- 6.4.2 Reduce -- 6.4.3 Reuse -- 6.4.4 Substitute -- 6.4.5 Recycling -- 6.5 Urban drainage -- 6.6 Water poverty -- 6.7 Engineering sustainable water systems --

7. Engineering, technology and ethics -- 7.1 Engineering knowledge -- 7.2 Technology and values -- 7.3 Engineering values -- 7.4 Mediating sustainability -- 7.5 Sustainable engineering --

Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Author's biography.

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Sustainable development is one of the key challenges of the twenty-first century. The engineering profession is central to achieving sustainable development. To date, engineering contributions to sustainability have focused on reducing the environmental impacts of development and improving the efficiency of resource use. This approach is consistent with dominant policy responses to environmental problems, which have been characterised as ecological modernisation. Ecological modernisation assumes that sustainability can be addressed by reforming modern society and developing environmental technologies. Environmental philosophers have questioned these assumptions and call into question the very nature of modern society as underlying the destruction of nature and the persistence of social inequality. Central to the crises of ecology and human development are patterns of domination and the separation of nature and culture.

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