Sustainability

Sustainability Frameworks

Sustainability Frameworks & Complementary Approaches

Below you find a wealth of information on how different initiatives are conceptualizing and thinking through our sustainability challenges.  This list is necessarily incomplete and evolving.  If you have any new frameworks, approaches, and resources to add to this list, please email sustainability@newpaltz.edu with suggested resources.

The Three Dimensions of Sustainability

A Dish with One Spoon Treaty / One Dish One Spoon Treaty (1142 CE)

"The oldest sustainability policy on the planet:" a wampum belt treaty agreement between the citizens of the Potawatomi and Haudenosaunee Nations

Basic Call to Consciousness (1977)

A series of position papers by indigenous contributors including Chief Oren Lyons, John Mohawk, and José Barreiro including “The Haudenosaunee Address to the Western World.”  This message was delivered to the world at the International Non-Governmental Organization Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas that was held in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1977.  Selections of this book can be found here.  Hardcopies are available for checkout at the Sojourner Truth Library

"Bruntland Definition" of Sustainable Development (1987)

From the Brundtland Report, Our Common Future: "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"

Principles of Environmental Justice (1991)

From the First People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit

John Elkington's Triple Bottom Line: People, Planet & Profit of 21st Century Business (1997)

Earth Charter (2000)

Julian Agyeman’s Just Sustainabilities (2003)

Julian Agyeman is the author of 11 books on topics ranging from food justice, immigrant culture, smart and sustainable cities, environmental justice, and more.  Below are some titles and talks by Julian on the subject of just sustainabilities.

Kate Raworth’s Doughnut of Social and Planetary Boundaries (2012)

Global Goals for Sustainable Development (2015)

Critical Sustainability / Critical Sustainabilities (2010s)

"Critical sustainability, in many ways evolving from the inclusive concept of just sustainability, uses a critical theory lens to unmask intertwined social and economic systems of oppression enforced through global capitalism" (Cachelin, 2019) To learn more about critical sustainability, search the Sojourner Truth Library and the internet for scholarly articles by Adrienne Cachelin and Jeff Rose and others.

Just Transition (2010s)

Articulated by Movement Generation of Oakland, CA and the Climate Justice Alliance

Drawdown Climate Change Solutions (2017)

Regeneration by Paul Hawken et al. (2021)

Inner Development Goals (2022)

Planetary Boundaries by the Stockholm Resilience Centre (2023)

Know of additional sustainability frameworks?  Have additional resources you'd like to share with the Sustainability Faculty Learning Community at SUNY New Paltz?  This is an ever-growing and evolving resource list.  Please share additional resources and frameworks by emailing sustainability@newpaltz.edu.