ABSTRACT
I prefer ‘both-and’ to ‘either-or,’ black and white, and sometimes gray to black or white.1
In selecting essays for this book we have embraced the concept of sustainability popularized through the 1987 UNESCO Report, Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report, after its primary author, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway.2 The report asserts “sustainability is defined as meeting today’s needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” In the nearly twenty years since the report was issued, critics have challenged several of its key elements, specifically alleging it capitulates to continued human development and emphasizes human needs at the potential expense of nonhuman environmental needs.3 Nonetheless, the definition provides a minimal benchmark against which current human action can be measured. It also establishes, again, in a modest way, the principle that people have the responsibility to consider others’ needs-particularly future needs-in conjunction with their own needs. It suggests that a chain of responsible relationships replace the autonomous individual actor.
