About the project “History of Sustainability Science”

01.04.2025 | 02.04.2025

Introduction to the NCN Sonata Bis Research Project: “History of Sustainability Science”

Sustainable development is a key term for understanding the most important directions of contemporary economic and environmental policy. It is not just an example of institutional jargon, but a fully developed theoretical concept that helps us understand how humanity should manage natural resources to ensure the well-being of future generations. Its history is inextricably linked with the environmental turn in global politics that began in the 1960s, when the devastation of the environment caused by the post-war economic boom became apparent. Over the course of a few years, both the fear of depleting key resources for our economies and the destruction of ecosystems, of which humans are also a part, influenced major trends in global politics and economics. Scientists played a key role in this transformation, using tools from various disciplines (from economics and cybernetics to ecology) to find a new language to describe the challenges facing humanity.

The relationship between sustainable development and the world of science and technology is twofold. On the one hand, science provides fundamental knowledge on which policymakers can base public policy; on the other hand, the political success of the concept of sustainable development has led to a growing number of researchers systematically addressing the topic. Over the past thirty years, the adjective “sustainable” has become ubiquitous in both the natural and social sciences. Particular attention should be paid to the multitude of young scientific disciplines that function within this new paradigm, such as green chemistry, industrial ecology, conservation biology, chemical ecology, or ecological chemistry (the latter two being separate disciplines). Furthermore, the growing interest in environmental technology assessment or life cycle assessment of products and services is also a result of the evolution of priorities in science and technology policy, which is increasingly taking environmental protection and resource conservation challenges seriously.

The aim of this project is to understand the historical dimension of the complex relationship between science, technology, and sustainability over the past decades. Our priority is to ensure that the publications resulting from the project can attract the interest of both historians and practitioners in the disciplines we address. This stems from the conviction that any discussion of sustainable development must have a holistic character and constantly revise its epistemological assumptions, for which historical reflection is essential. Our project is therefore not just an “external” look at one discipline or concept, but a fragment of the lively debate on the state of scientific and technological civilization and the conditions for its future development. Our ambition is to create an interdisciplinary research team that could pave the way for further work on the history of “sustainability sciences” (with all the potential phenomena hidden under this term) beyond the scope of this project.

Dr hab. Marcin Krasnodębski, prof. PAN

History of Natural and Medical Sciences Research Unit

Institute for the History of Science, Polish Academy of Sciences

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