CitedEvidence
User Settings
Open AccessArticle

Sustainability's Inconvenient Discourse

Christine Gilbert-2014-01-01-DigitalCommons (California Polytechnic State University)

TL;DRAbstract

“Sustainability” has been used to indicate certain values, market a way of life, and possesses a prominent role in a number of different disciplines, yet a commonly accepted definition doesn’t seem to exist. This thesis does not aim in any sense to define this elusive term, rather it examines the themes that inform discussions of sustainability. A number of particular thematic elements are used consistently across almost all of the discourses of sustainability: generational time frames, renewable resources, as well as the relationship between sustainability and economic development. Each unique discourse handles these themes in a specific way. What’s valuable is the construction of this concept in the public media. The New York Times and the Washington Post are two national newspapers publications known for setting the stage for relevant and new topics. Using the May 2006 premiere of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth as a cognitive reference point, I will be probing the change, or lack t

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper

“Sustainability” has been used to indicate certain values, market a way of life, and possesses a prominent role in a number of different disciplines, yet a commonly accepted definition doesn’t seem to exist. This thesis does not aim in any sense to define this elusive term, rather it examines the themes that inform discussions of sustainability. A number of particular thematic elements are used consistently across almost all of the discourses of sustainability: generational time frames, renewable resources, as well as the relationship between sustainability and economic development. Each unique discourse handles these themes in a specific way. What’s valuable is the construction of this concept in the public media. The New York Times and the Washington Post are two national newspapers publications known for setting the stage for relevant and new topics. Using the May 2006 premiere of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth as a cognitive reference point, I will be probing the change, or lack t

Keywords

SustainabilityMeaning (existential)SociologySustainability organizationsDiscourse analysisThematic analysisSocial sustainabilityConstruct (python library)

Chat

Click to start Chat