Crisis theory/practice: Towards a sustainable future

We are living in a world rife with many types of crises. The most prominent and urgent crises involve the earth's ecology. Environmental crises involving Ozone depletion, global warming, toxic and radioactive wastes, air pollution, industrial accidents etc. are affecting communities around the world. In this paper, I examine changes in crisis management theory and practice. In the past two decades, much progress has been made in our understanding of industrial and environmental crises. However, our understanding remains highly fragmented and selective. We need to integrate diverse findings and cumulatively build on past knowledge. To do this the concept of “sustainable development” provides a unifying motif. Some research questions that deserve urgent attention are identified.