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Defining Goals and Conditions for a Sustainable World
John Cairns, Jr. Department of Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA Abstract
Sustainable development is being approached component by component--socioeconomic, sustainable agriculture, transportation, forestry, energy use, cities, and the like--but, leaving a habitable planet for future generations will require the development of a widely shared paradigm. Further, the paradigm should be ecological from a scientific point of view. This development will be facilitated by a discussion of goals and those conditions necessary to meet them. The presently shared paradigm is that economic growth is the cure for all of society's problems, such as poverty, overpopulation, environmental degradation, and the increasing gap between rich and poor. A paradigm shift from growth to sustainability might result either from suffering painful consequences of continuing to follow out-moded paradigms or by discussing what sort of ecosystems will be available to future generations. The purpose of this paper is to help initiate such a discussion. Key words : conditions for sustainability, habitable planet, paradigm shift, sustainability goals, sustainable development. Environ Health Perspect 105:1164-1170 (1997) . Address correspondence to J. Cairns, Jr., Department of Biology, 1020 Derring Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA. I am indebted to E. Call for transcribing the dictation of the first draft and for including the many changes needed to produce the second draft and to D. Donald for editorial assistance in preparing the final draft for publication. P.H. Raven made some useful suggestions on an early draft and K.-H. Robčrt, P. Hawken, and J. Hagen provided useful assistance. My colleagues B. Wallace, A. Heath, B.R. Niederlehner, and J. Heckman provided useful comments on the second draft. Last, but far from least, I again thank those who launched the Natural Step Program and its U.S. offspring for the inspiration to give these matters more thought. Received 8 April 1997 ; accepted 10 June 1997.
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