The Age of Sustainable Development

Since I worked for several years in the U.N.’s Division for Sustainable Development, and cover topics like the Sustainable Development Goals in my Spring semester ‘Challenges in the Global Environment’ course at HNC, it’s probably not surprising that I keep a relatively close eye on sustainable development (SD) matters. When I noted the really nice reviews that Jeffrey Sachs’ recent book The Age of Sustainable Development was receiving, I decided that I’d better check it out.

Sachs developed the book to support a MOOC (massive, on-line open course) that he teaches on the subject, and the first thing I noticed was that a lot of the charts & slides I used in my own course – on a range of topics, including planetary boundaries and climate change — were included within the text. Some of that was based on Sachs’ previous work; his UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), for example, developed the ‘deep decarbonization’ report I mentioned in a posting last June.

This book is much broader, however, addressing topics like education, health coverage & access to medical care, and historical patterns of economic development — important SD topics that unfortunately receive little attention in my time–constrained & environment-only course. The most pleasant surprise, though, was that the work was so well written, turning relatively dry material into an interesting read. I can see why the reviews have been so positive, & will definitely be including chapters in the syllabus for next Spring’s session.