One hears a lot about sustainable development or sustainability,
to such an extent that these terms increasingly feel inflated or devoid of
meaning. The concepts behind them, though, do matter and should not be
abandoned because of abuse or over-use. Sustainable development has a glorious
past, dating back to the Brundtland Report of 1987 and the UN Conference on
Environment and Development, also known as Earth Summit, of1992. It was most
recently reaffirmed at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, also known
as Rio+20, held in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro.
