A Cross-Disciplinary Approach Needs to Be at the Core of Sustainability

Sustainability as a concept has a long and rich history in which its main focus details the interactions between complementary perspectives—often conceptualized as pillars—that come together to solve complex problems. The integration of approaches and perspectives must therefore also form the core of sustainability as a science. As Sustainability moves forward as a journal, it is crucial that we retain our focus on studies utilizing cross-disciplinary approaches to answer questions that are targeted at the interface of people and nature.

• People and nature

A quick search can outline the three traditional pillars of sustainability: environmental, social, and economic [1]. If we dig a little deeper, we can unearth a fourth pillar: the human aspect. In such a case, just a little further along, we would discover the fifth pillar of culture or security. Additional, alternative permutations of such pillars lay beyond that point. Each brings nuance to the goals and motivations around sustainability. The presence of more pillars aids in the shift from science to application to strategy for management.

My goal for this editorial is not to review how many pillars there are or should be within the realm of sustainability; this has been covered ad nauseum in literature reviews and debates across the community [2]. And while it is important to define and debate such pillars, I would like to put forward that sustainability as a science can be distilled into cross-disciplinary approaches that highlight the connections across natural sciences and human sciences. Having people and nature as the beneficiaries of sustainability only helps to motivate the need for such an approach toward sustainability science. Of course, thinking about those pillars, the notion of “people” here embodies various concepts of society, policy, or culture, while the idea of “nature” implies the environment as well as biophysical and built landscapes. What is important, then, is not the distinction of each pillar, but rather how we seek to solve the problems involving people and nature. As such, the core concept is the integration of approaches and science rather than the individual pillars themselves.

Cross-disciplinary approaches should thus be a core aspect for submissions to Sustainability (Figure 1). I will start with my own experience and process. When my research team considers publishing, we first reflect on the approach we have taken in our research. Most of my research centers on problems involving water resources, which can either involve the core discipline and science of hydrology or be framed in a more cross-disciplinary context. When our work interacts with researchers from other fields or utilizes a cross-disciplinary approach to solve a problem, that is when we start to consider journals that broaden beyond the core disciplines for submission. Next, we think about the problem being solved with the research. If the problem involves interactions between people and nature, we look to a journal like Sustainability for publication.

Some of our articles that were recently published in Sustainability can serve as examples of this process. Joannon et al. [contribution 1] had us working with social scientists from the onset and illustrated the need to include sociocultural dimensions to truly capture the trajectory of development, as it pertains to the intersection of sustainability and agricultural intensification. Lyon et al. [contribution 2] emphasized the impacts of biochar as a soil amendment relative to water resource conservation, farm productivity, and climatic resilience in tropical systems. Our study found that biochar additions allowed locally sourced feedstock carbon to be directly sequestered into the soil, improving soil water availability without jeopardizing crop production. Given the potential expansion and intensification of global agricultural production over the next several decades and the anticipated increase in water cycling variability due to climate change, our research concludes that biochar amendments could offer a pathway towards sustainable agricultural water management.

These examples are offered up here not only as a form of shameless self-promotion, but also to provide a roadmap around the process that authors could consider when targeting Sustainability for submission. At its essence, a study should invoke a cross-disciplinary approach that seeks to solve a problem at the interface of people and nature (Figure 1).

• Sustainability as a cross-disciplinary journal

What if we look a bit deeper at what makes a successful contribution to Sustainability? Looking over the past few years, we can pull out some of the most cited publications from the journal to look for hallmarks of success. For example, Basu et al. [contribution 3] offer up a review of biofertilizers, which are emerging as a suitable alternative to counteract the adverse environmental impacts exerted by synthetic agrochemicals. The review not only outlines the biophysical aspects of biofertilizers, but also overviews where the market pressure and roadblocks lay in the future that may hinder their adoption. The work reminds us of the three “Ps”, which include people, prosperity, and the planet, in the face of microbial product-based technology seeking to gain the trust of farmers and other stakeholders. Keeping with the theme of food, Makhi et al. [contribution 4] reviewed the interactions between climate change and the agricultural sector for a Special Issue on the integration of sustainable agriculture approaches for food security under climate change. Their review focused on both the influences of climate change on the physiological and metabolic activities of plants and the potential and reported implications for mitigation strategies and collective economic impact. The effort centered on a global problem at the interface of people and nature.

But remember, there are many pillars that can be considered as we look at utilizing cross-disciplinary approaches at the interface of people and nature. Feroz et al. [contribution 5] explored how digital transformation relates to disruptions in society, industry, and organizations that are stimulated by advances in digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Their review identified disruptions driven by digital transformation in the environmental sustainability domain, with a focus on four key areas: pollution control, waste management, sustainable production, and urban sustainability. Moving into renewables, Holechek et al. [contribution 6] pondered if renewable energy could replace fossil fuels by 2050 from a global perspective. They weighed the effectiveness of using eight distinct pathways: renewable energy development; improving energy efficiency; increasing energy conservation; carbon taxes; a more equitable balancing of human wellbeing and per capita energy use; cap and trade systems; carbon capture, utilization, and storage; and nuclear power development. Their meta-analyses indicated that the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy could be possible, but would require the aggressive application of all eight pathways in combination, along with major lifestyle changes in developed countries and close cooperation among all countries. Finally, thinking about rural and urban development, Popzoukidou et al. [contribution 7] discussed 15-minute cities, which use fundamental planning principles to achieve the bottom-up promotion of wellbeing while proposing an alternative way to think about optimal resource allocation on a citywide scale. Collectively, these studies fit the bill of invoking a cross-disciplinary perspective to assess issues involving both people and nature.

• What comes next for Sustainability?

Of course, there is no guaranteed formula for achieving a highly cited paper. Insight into topics that involve people and nature in a broad sense through a sustainability science cross-disciplinary lens is at the core of the success of such Sustainability articles. From that perspective, it should come as no surprise that we can match the various sections of Sustainability with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [3] (Figure 1). Just as the SDGs help to map a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future, Sustainability will continue to seek out research and reviews looking to balance benefits for both people and nature. With that, the importance of a cross-disciplinary approach to sustainability science will only continue to increase.