Publisher's Synopsis
In the beginning of this new century, when able people in science across the world are working on scientific methods of providing sustainable development, specific to their own countries or general to the world, it is also timely to remind ourselves that technology may not be the answer to everything. Technology, by itself, produces only summary statements on how physical entities in the world are related. It does not provide methods of how human inputs are to be used in combining the technology in generating outputs. It also does not address to issues on how the outputs of the combination of technology and human resources ought to be valued. Lastly, it does not address to how existing technologies can be combined, further modified, and the institutional environment for continuous experiments and improvements. This book brings together a collection of essays attempting to capture these interactions for the purpose of promoting sustainable development. By theoretical discussions and by case studies, the essays describe how environmental concerns can be (or have been) addressed to in the process of development in different institutional settings. The knowledge coming out of this research suggested a proposition loud and clear to researchers now working on the concept of sustainable development. The authors describe how the concept of sustainable development can be implemented. The quest for sustainable development is not the monopoly of secular or positivist inquiry. The authors offer insights into the material means and framework by which sustainability as a normative concept can be rendered operational for those who accept voluntary transactions as the basis of social interactions.
