ABSTRACT
This chapter provides background on two related issues: what types of indicators we can use to assess progress towards sustainability from particular actions and what questions we can ask as we design new programs to ensure that they reflect our concerns about sustainability. In order to operationalize the concept of sustainable development, organizations and the individuals within them need to address many issues related to what is sustainable and how one knows if an institution is operating in a sustainable manner. The chapter addresses two ways of doing this: the retrospective use of sustainable development indicators and the development of a set of sustainable development questions to use prospectively when assessing proposed or existing activities within the institution. As organizations address what sustainable development means for their present and future activities, they need to recognize the importance of both retrospective and prospective views.
