ABSTRACT
The stories of sustainability are important for how we try to manage it. While stories are inherently multiple and therefore messy, there are more or less powerful stories that attract attention when sustainability is translated into practice. These more or less powerful stories crystallize in the formulation of more coherent narratives enacted in public discourse and in policymaking where certain perceptions of sustainability therefore attain canonical status. In addition, there are also less established counternarratives mobilized to challenge dominant narratives. In this chapter, these narratives and counternarratives are discussed through the identification of three dominant narratives that are referred to as (a) reducing impact; (b) preserving nature; and (c) engendering lives. These are then further divided into six spatial images of sustainability. These spatial images are attractors for organizing the space for enacting sustainability work in organizations. Three of these spatial images, the sustainable development goals, planetary boundaries, and critical zones, correspond to the three dominant narratives. The three other spatial images, the triple bottom line, biospheres and multispecies stories, are seen as attempts to translate the three dominant narratives into philosophies and models of managing.
