Environmentally Sustainable Growth: A Pragmatic Approach
Steven Cohen
Columbia University Press (May 2023)

How and why a healthy global economy requires healthy ecosystems…and vice versa

What must be done to achieve the complete transition to environmental sustainability? According to Steven Cohen, the human race must undertake these five initiatives:

1. Research, measure, and [begin italics] understand [end italics] the current state of environmental degradation.
2. Understand the [begin italics] causes [end italics] of that degradation.
3. Develop and implement a [begin italics] [end italics] strategy for reducing pollution and growing a renewable resource-based economy.
4. Build public sector infrastructure to support environmental sustainability.
5. Change the politics, advocacy, and communication of environmental sustainability.

Cohen defines environmental sustainability and cites examples of appropriate economic practices, examines the current state of environmental degradation, identifies its fundamental causes, recommends a strategy for reducing pollution while growing a renewable-energy economy, explains how to build public-sector infrastructure to support environmental sustainability, and then shares his thoughts about how to change the politics and communication of environmental sustainability. Remarkably, he accomplishes all this within 200 pages.

No, this is not a definitive, comprehensive analysis of an immensely complicated subject (how could it be?) but it does make a compelling argument for responding effectively to the challenges and issues on which he focuses in an exceptionally informative Preface.

Who should read this book?

Years ago, Albert Einstein observed, “If you can’t explain an idea to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it.” In that same spirit, I highly recommend this book to anyone ten years or older.