Hope starts with possibility

The Age of Sustainable Development by Jeffrey D. Sachs (Columbia University Press, $34.95).

For those of us who didn’t get to take the massive open online course on sustainable development that Jeffrey D. Sachs, an economics professor and sustainability guru, taught last year, the heart of it is contained in his most recent book.

The Age of Sustainable Development makes the case, in accessible but well-supported and intellectually sound terms, for a third way toward sustainability, one that doesn’t come at the cost of economic development. Packed full of data, Sachs’ book leans academic, but it’s not so scholarly as to be too daunting for the general reader.

Ultimately, Sachs sees a mix of technological and market-driven solutions that will allow us to grow economies inclusively—with an emphasis on the poorest and most deprived countries—while at the same time conserving our planetary resources. It operates on the assumption that we can’t simply abandon our economies, but must instead steer them toward a sustainable plan.

This is a comprehensive overview of what a solution to humanity’s worldwide crisis might look like–if we ever have either the will or a big enough scare to get going on it–and it’s, at the very least, where we need to start.

Reviewed on Lit/Rant: www.litrant.tumblr.com ( )