[3] After graduation in 1973 Stivers joined the Pacific Lutheran University, where he served as teacher for 37 years at the Department of Religion.
"[5] He introduced this term in the context of the required societal re-ordering as he argued (1977; 186-7): About the "equilibrium economy" or "steady-state economy" Stivers further argued: According to Professor of Urban Design and Sustainability Stephen M. Wheeler (2013) Stivers didn't coined the term "sustainable society," but a 1974 conference of the World Council of Churches issued that concept.
Stivers explained: In those days Ian Barbour came to a similar conclusion on this matter, and stated that "only a major change in attitudes and values, a new definition of good life, could permanently alter the burden we place on global resources.
For political scientists and sociologists, according to Stivers (1979), there are "the vexing problems of managing this society and assessing the relative merits of centralized versus decentralized institutions.
Some scientists, like Herman Kahn with his 1976 book The next 200 Years: a scenario for America and the world, responded with extreme technological optimism.
[7] With the popularization in the media tons of books followed on the subject, while the 1973 oil crisis showed the world its dark side.
Close observers are frustrated by the degree to which supposedly factual questions (e.g., the quantities of certain resources and the probability of new technological innovations) are being answered on the basis of socially located values and metaphysical assumptions.
According to Glasser (2016) both works "expanded on the theme of planetary limits to economic growth and explored the forms of social design and institutional change that are necessary to sustain meaningful improvements in quality of life."