Technology, Globalization, and Sustainable Development: Transforming the Industrial State

Technology, Globalization, and Sustainable Development offers a unified, transdisciplinary approach for transforming the industrial state in order to promote sustainable development. The authors present a deep analysis of the ways that industrial states – both developed and developing – are currently unsustainable and how economic and social welfare are related to the environment, to public health and safety, and to earning capacity and meaningful and rewarding employment. The authors offer multipurpose solutions to the sustainability challenge that integrate industrial development, employment, technology, environment, national and international law, trade, finance, and public and worker health and safety. The authors present a compelling wake-up call that warns of the collision course set between the current paths of continued growth and inevitable unsustainability in the world today.

Offering clear examples and real solutions, this textbook illustrates how the driving forces that are currently promoting unsustainability can be refocused and redesigned to reverse course and improve the state of the world. This book is essential reading for those teaching and studying sustainable development and the critical roles of the economy, employment, and the environment.

Nicholas A. Ashford is Professor of Technology & Policy and Director of the Technology & Law Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he teaches courses in environmental law, policy, and economics; law, technology, and public policy; and technology, globalization, and sustainable development.

Ralph P. Hall is an Associate Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) at Virginia Tech, where he is the Director of the SPIA Undergraduate Program. His research and teaching focus on sustainable development, sustainable transportation, and water supply and sanitation in developing countries.