The Concept of Sustainability

Abstract

Few books result in major shifts in societal perspec-tive, but one that did was Our Common Future, a 1987 product of the World Commission on Environment and Development [1]. In that book, the committee recognised that continued industrial and societal development was necessary if a growing planetary population was to be fed, housed and provided with a satisfactory quality of life. It also recognised that it was necessary to make such development sustain-able over time, to 'meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future genera-tions to meet their own needs'. Twelve years later, in Our Common Journey, the Board on Sustainable Development of the US National Research Council reinforced and expanded this basic concept [2]. As a result of these initiatives 'sustainable devel-opment' has become a common phrase, and many corporations advertise their operations as 'sustain-able'. The use of the word is seldom defined in this context, but it is clear that two central implications are: (1) Using natural resources at rates that do not unacceptably draw down supplies over the long term. (2) Generating and dissipating residues at rates no higher than can be assimilated readily by the natural environment. Accordingly, one cannot evaluate the environmen-tal performance of a facility solely on the basis of such classical green chemistry metrics as the rate of reduction in the volume or toxicity of disposable by-products. In addition, it is necessary to evaluate one's processes and operations in terms of long time spans, broad spatial scales and complex interactions with natural systems, and taking actions that are indicated by such an evaluation whether they are regulated or not. This perspective of sustainable development demands new ways of measuring and understanding Chapter 4: Green Chemistry and Sustainable Development