Progress toward Sustainability
by Natalia Scriabina Progress toward sustainability can be compared with an unsuccessful weight loss program. More than 20 years ago the world concluded that it was rapidly progressing toward self-destruction. The main reason for this was identified as an overconsumption and unsustainable use of natural resources (Rio, 1992). Since that time the world has developed about a thousand sustainability indicator initiatives worldwide (IISD, 2014). The world has created rapidly developing institutions, theories, schools, international standards, industry norms, and national legislation. As a global community, we sliced and diced our problem. Now we understand sustainability issues on the level of eco-systems, regions, communities, cities, financial markets, businesses, and specific production processes. We have restricted consumption, emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, and created systems to iden...