ABSTRACT
Once the equivalence technology <=> Progress has become dubious, independent criteria are needed to evaluate the contribution of techno-science to social progress. I will argue that the past 50 years have brought the rise of two benchmarks against which new technologies are evaluated: safety and sustainability. These benchmarks were carved into `common sense' by two social movements, the ecology movement urging sustainable lifestyles and the consumer movement raising concern over product safety and market transparency. I will chart the new common sense with focus on sustainability by showing how representations of `nature' have changed and how activism that started locally and became global created the present `green' mentalities.
