For over 100 years, anthroposophical initiatives have been pioneering what we today call Sustainable Development — a discipline that could also be described as an “art of becoming.” At its core lies the development of perspectives and practices aimed at transforming and addressing today’s socio-ecological challenges.
The publication On the Earth We Want to Live – Anthroposophy’s Contributions to Sustainable Development is a compendium edited by Johannes Kronenberg and Edith Lammerts van Bueren, in collaboration with 75 co-authors. It includes a wide range of perspectives — from local enterprises to multinational companies — working with anthroposophical approaches and “worldview”. In addition, scholars and thought leaders contribute insights from fields such as agriculture, medicine, and education, highlighting how anthroposophy has influenced these areas and their relevance to Sustainable Development.
Increasingly, the “inner” and “spiritual” dimensions of Sustainable Development are entering mainstream (academic) discourse. Anthroposophy has made a significant contribution: for example, by understanding farming and soils not merely as a resource or site of production, but as part of a living organism that is itself evolving, in deep relationship with the human being. The editors have dedicated a chapter to this development, exploring how anthroposophy broadens and enriches prevailing definitions of Sustainable Development. Seeing the human being not merely as the problem of the socio-ecological crisis, but as a potential solution — and even a co-creator of the Earth — highlights a form of appropriate anthropocentrism.
Following Dan McKanan’s 2017 publication Eco-Alchemy: Anthroposophy and the History and Future of Environmentalism, this volume marks the second major work to explore anthroposophy’s contributions to the socio-ecological field. The initiative was launched by the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum, where a department for Sustainable Development has been in development over the past several years. The publication is part of the World Sustainability Series by Springer Nature and is available for free as a PDF or can be ordered in print.
For any inquiries please contact : johannes.kronenberg@goetheanum.ch
On the Earth We Want to Live – Anthroposophy’s Contributions to Sustainable Development
Editors and initators: Johannes Kronenberg, Edith Lammerts van Bueren
Co-Authors: 74 co-authors from 12 countries
Publisher: Springer Nature
Series: World Sustainability Series
Print version or free PDF digital version available here: https://link.springer.com/book/9783031987571
