{"id":288,"date":"2026-05-27T09:35:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/sustainabilityprinciplesandpractice\/?page_id=288"},"modified":"2026-05-27T10:59:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T10:59:47","slug":"history-of-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/sustainabilityprinciplesandpractice\/history-of-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"History of Sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-left is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-69934ac2 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-base-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/sustainabilityprinciplesandpractice\/flashcards\/\" style=\"background-color:#409750;font-style:normal;font-weight:300\">Back to all Flashcards<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<!-- Swiper -->\n<div class=\"swiper mySwiper\">\n    <div class=\"swiper-wrapper\">\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>Chemical compounds containing atoms of carbon, chlorine, and fluorine that are harmful to the ozone layer of the atmosphere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>circular economy<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>A closed-loop economy with a continuous cyclic flow of materials, where output from one process becomes input for another.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>climax community<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>Historic term for a community resulting from a process of ecological succession that remains unchanged in the absence of disturbance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>conservation<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>Early twentieth century view of nature as a resource to be efficiently managed for human use.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>ecological footprint<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>A measure of the demand a person, population, or activity places on nature in order to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates, usually expressed as acres or hectares of productive land and water.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>ecology<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>The study of the relationships between organisms and their environment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>ecosystem<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>A system of living organisms interacting with each other and their physical environment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>endangered species<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>A species considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>environmental ethics<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>The branch of philosophy that studies the moral value of, and humans\u2019 ethical relationship to, the nonhuman world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>environmental history<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>The study of human relationships to the natural world through time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>environmental justice<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>The concept that access to a clean, healthy environment is a fundamental human right.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>life cycle assessment (LCA)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>A method for quantifying the total environmental impacts of a material, product, or building through all phases of its life from cradle to grave; also known as life cycle analysis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>listing<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>The addition of a species considered to be facing a high risk of extinction to a list of endangered species such as the international IUCN Red List or the lists mandated by the US Endangered Species Act.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>Kyoto Protocol<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>An international treaty adopted in 1997 at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and expiring in 2012 which limited carbon dioxide emissions for those developed countries that signed it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>succession<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>Progressive change in species composition, structure, and ecosystem characteristics in a community, often in response to a disturbance,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>threatened species<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>A species considered to be likely to become endangered in the near future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <!-- Swiper Slide -->\n        <div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n          <!-- Flashcard -->\n           <button class=\"flip-card\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n            <div class=\"flip-card-inner\">\n              <div class=\"flip-card-front\"><p><p>trophic level<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n              <div class=\"flip-card-back\"><p>The position a group of organisms with similar feeding function occupies in a food web.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n            <\/div>\n          <\/button>\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n        <div id=\"flashcard-instruction\" class=\"sr-only\">Press Enter or Space to flip the card<\/div><div id=\"flip-announcement\" class=\"sr-only\" role=\"status\" 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