Historical Roots of Sustainability (pre-1960)
The pre-1960 roots of sustainability are derived from the progressive conservation era in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. The term of sustainability first came from European forestry and created some of the first building blocks that led to our understanding of sustainability as we see it today. Sustainability evolved through progressive conservation into ecological thinking and environmentalism, and finally to a refined idea of sustainability.
This content focuses on the pre environmentalist time period. John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, Aldo Leopold and many more influential figures that impacted modern sustainability are found here.
(CC Image of Aldo Leopold courtesy of USFS Region 5 on Flickr)
