TY - JOUR

T1 - 28 months later: the coronavirus pandemic as an analogy for future sustainability challenges

AU - Engler, John Oliver

AU - von Wehrden, Henrik

N1 - Special Feature: Just and Sustainable Transitions in Net-Zero Asia Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).

PY - 2023/9

Y1 - 2023/9

N2 - We combine the concepts of ‘black elephants’ and wicked problems with Roy Bhaskar’s critical realist philosophy of science and frame the current state of the coronavirus pandemic as an analogy for impending sustainability challenges. We point out and illustrate that the interaction of different ontological levels of our world as it ‘is’ will likely remain a challenge in addressing the wicked problems of our time.

AB - We combine the concepts of ‘black elephants’ and wicked problems with Roy Bhaskar’s critical realist philosophy of science and frame the current state of the coronavirus pandemic as an analogy for impending sustainability challenges. We point out and illustrate that the interaction of different ontological levels of our world as it ‘is’ will likely remain a challenge in addressing the wicked problems of our time.

KW - Black elephant

KW - Critical realism

KW - Pandemic

KW - Predictable surprise

KW - Risk

KW - Sustainability

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Sustainability Governance

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85164174708&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/7a5480e5-f7f4-3355-b709-384301f921ba/

U2 - 10.1007/s11625-023-01383-4

DO - 10.1007/s11625-023-01383-4

M3 - Comments / Debate / Reports

AN - SCOPUS:85164174708

VL - 18

SP - 2499

EP - 2504

JO - Sustainability Science

JF - Sustainability Science

SN - 1862-4065

IS - 5

ER -