Consumption to contribution: Sustainable technological development through innovation

Abstract

Sustainability issues have been driven to the top of the political, economic and societal agenda, particularly in regard to unremitting consumption of finite resources and its impact on environmental degradation. In her landmark, but at the time (1962) controversial book, Silent Spring [1], Rachel Carson drew to the world's attention the impact of pesticide use on wildlife, opening the debate on environmental degradation. This was followed a decade later by The Limits to Growth [4], an equally controversial study on behalf of the Club of Rome. © 2010 Springer-Verlag London.