The sustainability-civilization nexus has become a major CCR theme since 2014. Joseph Drew’s editorial in v70 announces the 2013 conference theme “How Will Rapid Global Changes Transform Civilizations?” and lays out a research agenda covering communication, work, governance, the nation-state, religion, robotics, brain sciences, energy, diaspora, and the future of civilization. He asks: will the United States expand to include Canada and Mexico? Will China and Russia face the same pressures? How will space travel affect how humans think and worship? What new energy resource will replace hydrocarbons? How are strangers in strange lands surviving?

Pedro P. Geiger’s “Index of American Sustainable Society in 2016” in v89 (with figures showing the Three Spheres of Sustainability and the Index of American Sustainable Society) provides a quantitative measure of US sustainability. The article draws on the work of J. Clark and R. Gragg III for the Three Spheres framework.

In v79, “The Environmental Crimes Committee” of the IACP and “Impacts from Environmental Crimes” draw on UNEP-INTERPOL data, with comparisons of pre-expansion geopolitical environments and expansionary wars between Chu and Rome, China and Russia, Turkey and Mongolia, India and the others.

In v94, Andrew Targowski’s “Beyond War: Building Wisdom Civilization to Rescue Humanity” and the related articles on civilizational wisdom-ranking connect sustainability to the broader question of civilizational design.

Source summaries:

  • v70 (Spring 2014) — Laina Farhat-Holzman, “How Will Rapid Global Changes Transform Civilizations?” and Andrew Targowski, “From Globalization Waves to Global Civilization.” (v70)
  • v79 (Fall 2018) — Environmental Crimes Committee, comparison of Rome and Han Empires, US-China-Turkey-Mongolia-India comparison. (v79)
  • v89 (Fall 2023) — Pedro P. Geiger, “Index of American Sustainable Society in 2016.” (v89)
  • v94 (Spring 2026) — Andrew Targowski, “Beyond War: Building Wisdom Civilization to Rescue Humanity.” (v94)