ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 contextualizes the narrative of sustainability by clearly defining what we mean by the term “sustainable society”. Before we can set meaningful goals and undertake to make significant changes to our economic and political systems, we must have a very firm grasp of what we expect as outcomes.
The default definition, taken from the report of the Brundtland Commission, is subjected to critical evaluation. The report correctly notes that we cannot successfully address environmental sustainability without connecting these efforts to lifting the developing world out of poverty. The argument is made that this definition is woefully inadequate for meeting these goals. The lesson to emerge is that we must decouple development and poverty reduction from the hydrocarbon economy and the current model of globalization if we are to achieve genuine sustainability and social justice. Thus, we go on to develop a robust definition of sustainability that sets specific goals and metric schemas for measuring our progress.
An important notion, referred to as political sustainability, is introduced and developed that will be essential to our success. This notion incorporates political legitimacy and addresses our concerns about economic and social sustainability but is broader in scope.
