ABSTRACT
Sustainability inherently involves values and other intangible social qualities. This characteristic leaves efforts to promote sustainability vulnerable to misuse, political misunderstanding, and extensions of meaning beyond the original purpose. The irony of the most successful mammalian species fretting over its future suggests that sustainability will always be a dilemma. It is a human dilemma, because ecosystems cannot care whether they leak nutrients, lose species, or become less diverse. Many people do care whether ecosystems degrade, yet to sustain nature we build systems of management and jurisprudence so cumbersome and costly that the management effort itself may not be sustainable (Tainter 1997). As researchers seek concrete indicators of sustainability, many argue that the concept is inherently vague, relative, and value laden. It is not surprising that sustainability evokes such a mixture of veneration, opposition, and confusion.
