Twenty years of sustainababble

John Elkington, writing in Open Democracy, reminds us that the idea of sustainable development became mainstream at least 20 years ago. It was spelt out in the landmark Brundtland report, officially known as Our Common Future, in 1987. Elkington gives a useful chronological history of the development of the idea of sustainability in four “waves”. The first is in the 1960s (including the publication of Silent Spring and the formation of the World Wildlife Fund) and the current, fourth, wave focuses on climate change.