Sustainability by Design - A Subversive Strategy for Transforming Our Consumer Culture - John R. Ehrenfeld

Oct 26, 2026

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Sustainability by Design presents a critical argument for reshaping consumer culture through design, habits, and systems thinking. The book examines why unsustainability persists, diagnosing it as the outcome of flawed problems, entrenched behaviors, and consumption patterns resembling addiction. It develops a radical conception of sustainability and explains transformation as both change in practice and a new relationship to meaning, drawing on design perspectives and sustainability principles.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages271

Reading Time11 h 23 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Tables

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Is the Sky Falling, and, If So, Does Anyone Care?

2. Solving the Wrong Problem: How Good Habits Turn Bad

3. Uncovering the Roots of Unsustainability

4. Consumption: A Symptom of Addiction

5. A Radical Notion of Sustainability

6. The Tao of Sustainability

7. Change, Transformation, and Design

Sustainability by Design This page intentionally left blank Sustainability by Design A Subversive Strategy for Transforming Our Consumer Culture John R. Ehrenfeld Yale University Press New Haven and London “The Opening of Eyes,” by David Whyte, from From Songs for Coming Home. Reprinted with permission from Many Rivers Press, Langley, [Washington. www.davidwhyte.com](Washington. www.davidwhyte.com). “The Descent,” by William Carlos Williams, from Collected Poems 1939–1962, Volume II, copyright ©1948, 1962 by William Carlos Williams. Reprinted by permission of New Direction Publishing Corp. Copyright © 2008 by John R. Ehrenfeld All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Set in Sabon by Binghamton Valley Composition. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ehrenfeld, John. Sustainability by design : a subversive strategy for transforming our consumer culture / John R. Ehrenfeld. [p. cm](p. cm). Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-300-13749-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Sustainable development. 2. Consumption (Economics) I. Title. HC79.E5E346 2008 338.9'27—dc22 2008012032 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To my grandchildren This page intentionally left blank The Opening of Eyes That day I saw beneath dark clouds the passing light over the water and I heard the voice of the world speak out, I knew then, as I had before life is no passing memory of what has been nor the remaining pages of a great book waiting to be read. It is the opening of the eyes long closed. It is the vision of far off things seen for the silence they hold. It is the heart after years of secret conversing speaking out loud in the clear air. It is Moses in the desert fallen to his knees before the lit bush. It is the man throwing away his shoes as if to enter heaven and ﬁnding himself astonished, opened at last, fallen in love with solid ground. —David Whyte, From Songs for Coming Home, ©1989 Many Rivers Press This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Illustrations, xi List of Tables, xii Foreword, xiii Preface, xvii Acknowledgments, xxi 1. Is the Sky Falling, and, If So, Does Anyone Care? 1 2. Solving the Wrong Problem: How Good Habits Turn Bad, 10 3. Uncovering the Roots of Unsustainability, 22 4. Consumption: A Symptom of Addiction, 35 5. A Radical Notion of Sustainability, 48 6. The Tao of Sustainability, 58 7. Change, Transformation, and Design, 64

FAQs

What central goal does Sustainability by Design focus on?

It focuses on transforming consumer culture by challenging the conditions that produce unsustainability, especially through design and behavioral change.

How does the book explain the persistence of unsustainability?

It traces unsustainability to root causes embedded in how problems are framed and in habits that turn harmful over time.

What role does consumption play in the argument?

Consumption is treated as a symptom, described in terms of addiction-like patterns that sustain destructive practices.

Oct 26, 2026

Upload by Patrick