Dear Colleagues,

The year 2020 has been extremely trying. The coronavirus pandemic led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives and devastated the world economy. In the U.S., denial of medical science has taken its place next to the denial of climate science, all set within the horror of systemic racism. This situation is not sustainable and may not be survivable. Humanity is truly at a crossroads. This Special Issue of Sustainability on “Sustainability, Energy, and Environmental Policy: Humanity at a Crossroads” seeks papers that address big picture issues under this theme. Prospective authors are, of course, expected to decide for themselves what ‘big picture’ means in this context. My perspectives on the term are varied. One perspective relates to the long-term—for example, are energy and environmental policies achieving sustainability goals soon enough? In other words, is there a point in time when sustainability goals are simply not achievable in light of energy and environmental policy failures? Another perspective relates to social equity. Are energy and environmental policies that are designed to meet sustainability goals equitable and are they being equitably administered? A third perspective is a reaction to the coronavirus pandemic. Lockdowns of societies resulted in reductions in energy use and environmental emissions but were not sustainable economically. Massive pressure was exerted to end lockdowns to restart economies, which now has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and resumed unsustainable energy use and consumption practices. What new ideas could be put forward to build sustainable societies in light of what we might have learned from dealing with COVID-19? A fourth perspective pertains to human institutions. To a significant degree, we already know what energy and environmental policies could be implemented to achieve sustainability goals. Unfortunately, said policies are often not enacted or enforced. What new ideas could be put forward to improve our institutions of governance to be more effective in this area? Conversely, is humanity writ large constitutionally incapable of making rational, long-term decisions to benefit not only ourselves but our future generations? I encourage prospective authors to take the opportunity presented by this Special Issue to think more broadly and long-term about sustainability and energy and environmental policy.

Dr. Bruce E. Tonn
Guest Editor

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• energy policy
• environmental policy
• sustainability
• social justice
• futures