Global Sustainability and Communities of Practice

Environmental challenges are more complex due to rapid development and human population growth alongside technological advances that alter lifestyles and social norms. To meet these challenges, concepts of sustainability need to be more accessible to the public, who as citizens, activists, and citizen scientists are engaged in community-based action.

Using case-based and theoretical chapters that examine rural and urban communities of practice, this volume illustrates how participatory researchers and students as well as policy and community leaders find ways to engage with the broader public when it comes to global sustainability research and practice. Collaboration between experts and the public is vital for effective community engagement aimed at improving the lives of the most vulnerable in society, whether at the local or global level.

Sam Beck is a senior lecturer in the College of Human Ecology and the Urban Semester Program at Cornell University. His publications include Manny Almeida’s Ringside Lounge: The Cape Verdean Struggle for Their Neighborhood (1992). He co-edited with Carl A. Maida Toward Engaged Anthropology (2013) and Public Anthropology in a Borderless World (2015). He was recognized by Cornell University with the 2006 Award for Outstanding Community and Public Service.