ABSTRACT

We live in grief for the desecration and loss of life, human and more-than-human. As I write these lines on 25 October 2007, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) issues an all-too-familiar claim: ‘The human population is living far beyond its means and inflicting damage to the environment that could pass points of no return.’ Twenty years after the Brundtland Commission's seminal report, it concludes: ‘There are no major issues raised in Our Common Future for which the foreseeable trends are favourable’ (UNEP, 2007).