Every political speech on development, every theoretical article, every media pundit, every project proposal, refers to sustainable development. It is an unalloyed good, a universal goal, the touchstone against which all efforts are measured. And it doesn't exist. And, surprise, surprise, it came into prominence not because the needs of the poor moved to the top of the agenda but when the development policies of the poorer countries threatened to affect the interests of the industrialized nations. When it became clear that exploiting tropical forests might be contributing to global warming, the forests stopped being a local resource and became part of the international heritage of humankind.
Peasants consume what they produce, recycle waste, and pollute little.
The need is to train Westerners to do the same, which will entail enormous changes in the consumption of resources and in technologies. That is where sustainable development offers a glimmer of hope. More significantly, sustainable development is a potentially challenging and useful concept that can be wielded to make individuals, governments and, toughest but most important of all, companies change their thinking and ultimately their behavior. Ironically, though it brings the idea of subsequent generations into development thinking for the first time, its biggest contribution will not be long term, because in time all the attitudes, practices and technologies today regarded as sustainable will become obsolete. This article first appeared in The WorldPaper January 1995 issue.