Social learning for sustainable development: Embracing technical and cultural change as originally inspired by the natural step

This chapter describes and illustrates a learning approach to sustainability that combines principles of technical and human-cultural change. Changing behavior is rarely easy. Launching initiatives and maintaining momentum is a great challenge. Uptake of technical insights without attention to cultural-organizational change issues guarantees less than adequate results. This chapter reminds those involved in the work of sustainable development that all change must be implemented by people, as individuals, groups, organizations, or societies. Its contribution is therefore to help crystallize a small set of principles from successful, complex change efforts to date. In this chapter actionability of social learning is highlighted.