Dealing with time is intimately linked to sustainability, because sustainability, at its core, involves long-term ethical claims. To live up to them, decision and policy-making has to consider long-term development of society, economy, and nature. However, dealing with time and such long-term development is a notoriously difficult subject, both in science and, in particular, in practical decision and policy making. Rooted in philosophical and scientific reasoning, this book explores how the concept of time can be incorporated into effective practical action. The book describes a system and uses case studies to help sustainability practitioners and researchers consider the long-term consequences of our actions in a methodical way. The system integrates scientific and practical knowledge about time and temporal developments to help break down the sometimes overwhelming complexity of sustainability issues. Combining theoretical conceptual thinking and practical applications, this book will be of great interest to students and researchers of sustainability science, environmental sciences, sustainable development, environmental economics, political sciences and practical philosophy.

This groundbreaking book takes a fresh look at how environmental problems emerge from economic activity and how they may be addressed in a responsible and sustainable manner. At its centre is the concept of joint production. This captures the phenomenon whereby several effects necessarily emerge from one activity and whereby human action always entails unintended consequences. This, according to the authors, is the structural cause behind modern-day environmental problems. Combining concepts and methods from philosophy of science, systems theory, thermodynamics, economics and ethics in a truly interdisciplinary manner, the authors convincingly argue that the joint-production perspective has fundamental and far-reaching implications for the valuation of economic goods, the dynamic analysis of economy-environment interactions, and the accumulation of stocks in ecological-economic systems. Complementing the joint-production perspective with the ethical notion of responsibility, the authors develop principles of sustainable environmental policy, and give philosophical support to the precautionary principle. Four extensive case studies illustrate and deepen the approach. With a wide range of analysis and case studies, this book will be of great interest to researchers and students in ecological economics, environmental and resource economics, environmental policy and regulation, environmental valuation, as well as environmental ethics and responsibility.

Der Sammelband anlasslich der Emeritierung von Johannes Marboeck, Professor am Institut fur Alttestamentliche Bibelwissenschaft der Karl-Franzens-Universitat Graz, ist dem wichtigsten Arbeitsfeld des Geehrten gewidmet: der Weisheitsliteratur des Alten Testaments. In den zahlreichen Beitragen namhafter Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler wird dieses Thema aus hoechst unterschiedlichen Perspektiven immer neu in den Blick genommen.