Key roots and approaches to sustainability

Tracing back the roots of environmentalism, the editors emphasise that societal concern about the problematic relationship between the natural environment and human activity has been around for decades, even centuries. In setting the scene for the book, this opening chapter provides a review of early developments that define the concept of sustainability and then offers a critique of the modern concept of sustainable development. Despite the &s;hard-to-argue-against&s; sentiments of the United Nations World Commission on Sustainable Development and its holistic and integrated approach to sustainable development, the chapter notes that the sustainability concept was soon to be ‘taken hostage’ by the modernity paradigm with its technology-based interests across economic, environmental and societal spheres. This paves the way to introduce visions for reimagining sustainability in the 21st century and the relationship between business and sustainability.