Sustainable Landscapes and Lifeways

Download or read book Sustainable Landscapes and Lifeways written by Anne Buttimer and published by Stylus Publishing, LLC.. This book was released on 2001 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Profound transformations have occurred in our everyday environments during the twentieth century. This book addresses these transformations through a series of case studies of changes in landscape and lifeways during the 1950-1990 period in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden. The book's central concern is sustainability -- the challenge of orchestrating the competing goals of economic growth, ecological integrity and social vitality. Regional case studies spanning coal-based power plants in Saarland, farms and bogs in Slieveardagh, traditional fields of Waterland and ultra-modern agribusiness on Flevoland polder, landed estates and farms in Skane -- all illustrate the interconnections of landscape transformations, tensions of place-based and sector-based lifeways, and highly variable horizons of discretionary reach. Beyond regional differences however, all European societies today face common challenges: Europe's commitment to being the world's largest trading bloc while at the same time proclaiming biodiversity and regional distinctiveness; Europe's spatially and temporally-contained regimes of democratic authority vis-a-vis the footloose geographies of multinational enterprise and the ecological consequences of their operations. "Sustainable Landscapes and Lifeways" offers valuable insights for educators at all levels. It invites cross-disciplinary enquiry into vital issues of interest throughout Europe. It also provides a model of analytical enquiry which could be implemented by people at grassroots level to enable self-confident "bottom-up" initiatives for more sustainable ways of life.