Overview

An energy tycoon, real estate developer, and philanthropist, George P. Mitchell is also an idealist, a big thinker who gave his time and fortune to the study of sustainability long before it became a household word. Jurgen Schmandt, who has worked for Mitchell for many years, explains and traces the idea of a sustainable society, from its origin in the eighteenth-century concept of the """"commons"""" to its twentieth-century iteration in the 1987 United Nations report """"Our Common Future."""" He then chronicles Mitchell’s commitment to this idea from the early 1960s, when the focus was on population growth, to today, when climate change and global warming dominate the debate. Mitchell advanced his belief that humankind could create """"a balance between economic and ecological well-being"""" by organizing and hosting conferences, awarding prizes, supporting scholars and scientists, and funding research and publications. He did it at the Aspen Institute, at The Woodlands Conferences, at the National Academy of Sciences, at the Mitchell Center for Sustainable Development, and at the Houston Advanced Research Center. (Paradoxically, he did not always do it in his own energy company.) Documenting one important man’s engagement with one important idea, Schmandt has preserved a significant episode in the ongoing quest to create societies that are """"capable of reaching and then sustaining a decent quality of life for their citizens.

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9781603442176

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Reviews

""George Mitchell's life is a story of America--a place where the children of immigrants who start with nothing can, through great intelligence and hard work, become billionaires. In this book, we learn how the same unique wisdom that Mitchell applied to oil and gas discovery generated his farsighted passion for focusing the best of science on sustainability issues, thereby producing a critical legacy for the future of the world. Read George P. Mitchell and the Idea of Sustainability and be inspired to follow his example.""--Bruce Alberts, President Emeritus, National Academy of Science and editor-in-chief, Science Magazine

George Mitchell's life is a story of America--a place where the children of immigrants who start with nothing can, through great intelligence and hard work, become billionaires. In this book, we learn how the same unique wisdom that Mitchell applied to oil and gas discovery generated his farsighted passion for focusing the best of science on sustainability issues, thereby producing a critical legacy for the future of the world. Read George P. Mitchell and the Idea of Sustainability and be inspired to follow his example. --Bruce Alberts, President Emeritus, National Academy of Science and editor-in-chief, Science Magazine George Mitchell's life is a story of America--a place where the children of immigrants who start with nothing can, through great intelligence and hard work, become billionaires. In this book, we learn how the same unique wisdom that Mitchell applied to oil and gas discovery generated his farsighted passion for focusing the best of science on sustainability issues, thereby producing a critical legacy for the future of the world. Read George Mitchell and the Idea of Sustainability and be inspired to follow his example. --Bruce Alberts, President Emeritus, National Academy of Science and Editor-in-Chief, Science Magazine George Mitchell''s life is a story of America--a place where the children of immigrants who start with nothing can, through great intelligence and hard work, become billionaires. In this book, we learn how the same unique wisdom that Mitchell applied to oil and gas discovery generated his farsighted passion for focusing the best of science on sustainability issues, thereby producing a critical legacy for the future of the world. Read George P. Mitchell and the Idea of Sustainability and be inspired to follow his example. --Bruce Alberts, President Emeritus, National Academy of Science and editor-in-chief, Science Magazine

<p> George Mitchell's life is a story of America--a place where the children of immigrants who start with nothing can, through great intelligence and hard work, become billionaires. In this book, we learn how the same unique wisdom that Mitchell applied to oil and gas discovery generated his farsighted passion for focusing the best of science on sustainability issues, thereby producing a critical legacy for the future of the world. Read George Mitchell and the Idea of Sustainability and be inspired to follow his example. --Bruce Alberts, President Emeritus, National Academy of Science and Editor-in-Chief, Science Magazine <p>

Author Information

JURGEN SCHMANDT is professor emeritus of public affairs in the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, and distinguished fellow at the Houston Advanced Research Center, where he was formerly the director of the Mitchell Center for Sustainable Development.

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