Linking Industry and Ecology

It might, at first glance, seem to many that industry and ecologymake strange bedfellows. For proponents of sustainable development,however, such a union is crucial. How else are we to make theindustries that are so central to modern societies consistent with ourvisions of a sustainable future?

Linking Industry and Ecology explores the origins, promise,and relevance of the emerging field of industrial ecology. It situatesindustrial ecology within the broader range of environmental managementstrategies and concepts, from the practices of pollution preventionthrough life cycle management, to the more fundamental shift towarddematerialization and ecological design. The book makes a compellingargument for the need to think ecologically to develop innovative andcompetitive industrial policy.

The contributors to this volume draw on their experience in avariety of disciplines to chart a clear path for industrial ecology.Their work not only affirms what has been learned to date in thisnascent field but also provides new insight for a discoursetraditionally dominated by natural scientists and engineers, bydemonstrating that technologies are socially and politicallyembedded.