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Citation:
Molly Harris Olson, Accepting the Sustainable
Development Challenge, 31 Willamette L. Rev. 253, 260
(1995)

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 ACCEPTING THE
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE

MOLLY HARRISS OLSON*

On Earth Day 1993, President William Clinton presented to

the American people a new vision of our environmental and
economic future:
For all our differences, I think there is an overwhelming de-
termination to change our course, to offer more opportunity,
to assume more responsibility, to restore the larger American
community, and to achieve things that are larger than our-
selves and more lasting than the present moment. We seek to
set our course by the star of age-old values, not short-term
expediencies; to waste less in the present and provide more
for the future; to leave a legacy that keeps faith with those
who left the Earth to us.'
The President challenged the American people to help build a
future alive with opportunity, a future where people and natural
systems are healthy and economic prosperity is ecologically sus-
tainable for generations to come.
That same challenge faces everyone on earth. The term
"sustainable development" has been defined many ways.2 In the
United States, the President's Council on Sustainable Develop-
ment has adopted the Brundtland Commission's definition:
"[D]evelopment that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs."3

* Executive Director, President's Council on Sustainable Development.

1. President William J. Clinton, Address at Earth Day (Apr. 21, 1993) [hereinafter
Address at Earth Day].
2. See, e.g., INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR THE CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND
NATURAL RESOURCES ET AL., CARING FOR THE EARTH: A STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINA-
BLE LIVING 10 (David A. Munro & Martin W. Holdgate eds., 1991) (defining sustaina-
ble development as "improving the quality of human life while living within the
carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems"); Barry Sadler, Sustainable Development,
Northern Realities and the Design and Implementation of Conservation Strategies, in
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH NORTHERN CONSERVATION STRATEGIES iX
(Elaine Smith ed., 1990) (describing sustainable development as "a catalytic idea for
rethinking the relationship of environment and economy").
3. UNITED NATIONS WORLD COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOP-
MENT, OUR COMMON FUTURE 8 (1987).
 WILLAMETTE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 31:253

In other words, sustainable development means the preser-

vation of opportunity. The equality of the world we pass on to
our children will depend on the opportunities they enjoy: to lead
healthy lives, to find satisfying, rewarding employment, and to
have clean air, clean water, and a planet as biologically diverse
as today. If we leave for our children the full range of opportu-
nities we have enjoyed, then we will have kept faith with the past
and prepared well for the future.
Preserving opportunity into the future is one of the most
difficult tasks the current generation will face. The obstacles to
sustainability, the roadblocks that would cut off opportunity,
have never been more formidable. A growing-and increasingly
urbanized-world population, rapidly expanding fossil fuel use,
and the unforeseen consequences of technological advances are
stressing the natural systems that sustain life and make prosper-
ity possible. All these are threatening the opportunities we want
our children to enjoy.
Vice President Al Gore defined the problem well in his
book, Earth in the Balance:
Modern industrial civilization, as presently organized, is col-
liding violently with our planet's ecological system. The fe-
rocity of its assault on the earth is breathtaking, and the
horrific consequences are occurring so quickly as to defy our
capacity to recognize them, comprehend their global implica-
tions, and organize an appropriate and timely response. 4
The basic natural systems on which our health, our prosperity,
and our children's future opportunities depend are being de-
graded by human activities today. The evidence is
overwhelming:
* By altering the chemistry of the atmosphere in ways that
most scientists believe will change the earth's climate,
human activities today could cause sea levels to rise, and
coastal areas to flood.'
- On average, human activities are destroying over ninety
acres of tropical forest every minute. 6 In Indonesia, for ex-
ample, the sustainability of the economy has been undercut

4. AL GORE, EARTH IN THE BALANCE: ECOLOGY AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT 269
(1992).
5. THE WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE, WORLD RESOURCES 1994-1995 4 (1994)
[hereinafter WORLD RESOURCES].
6. GORE, supra note 4, at 118.
1995] ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE

by the liquidation of natural capital stocks of valuable old-

growth forests.7
, Worldwide, biological diversity is being lost at an unprec-
edented rate.8 For example, of the 9600 known species of
birds, approximately 6000 species are in decline, and about
1000 species are threatened with extinction. 9 The world's
biodiversity not only has aesthetic and moral value, but it
offers economic opportunities as well. The Pacific Yew tree
was once thought to have no commercial value. Now we
know that the tree contains
10
a promising new drug for breast
and ovarian cancer.
* Recent studies indicate that strict air pollution standards
in the United States may not be stringent enough to protect
human health.' One study concluded that air pollution in
U.S. cities-even in areas that meet our national air quality
standards-may increase the risk of death from lung cancer
and cardiovascular
2
disease, potentially shortening lives up
to two years.'
* In the past fifty years, human activities have caused mod-
erate to severe degradation of soils covering an area the size
of India and China combined.' 3 In the United States, the
Mississippi River is carrying away millions of tons of prime
topsoil. Every hour, eight acres' worth of soil that4
used to
provide food and livelihood is lost downstream.'
e Every day, U.S. farmers and ranchers draw out twenty
billion more gallons of water from the ground than is re-
placed by rainfall.' 5 For example, a growing demand for
water is destroying the Ogalalla Aquifer-an underground
river beneath America's bread basket. 16 At present rates of
extraction, this aquifer will dry up within thirty or forty

7. ROBERT REPETrO ET AL., WASTING ASSETS: NATURAL RESOURCES IN THE

NATIONAL INCOME ACCOUNTS 27-37 (1989).
8. WORLD RESOURCES, supra note 5, at 147.
9. WORLD RESOURCES, supra note 5, at 322.
10. Address at Earth Day, supra note 1.
11. Air Pollution Standards May Need Tightening, Study Suggests, WASH. POST,
Dec. 9, 1993, at A3.
12. Id.
13. WORLD RESOURCES, supra note 5, at 34.
14. GORE, supra note 4, at 3.
15. PAUL HAWKEN, THE ECOLOGY OF COMMERCE 3 (1993).
16. Id.
 WILLAMETTE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 31:253

years. 17 Already in some of the western United States, cit-

ies, farmers, and wildlife are competing for a limited supply
of water.
* Pollution, intense exploitation, and coastal development
are degrading ocean ecosystems. 18 Over a billion people de-
pend on the oceans for their principal source of protein. 19
However, all major fishing areas are currently being har-
vested at or beyond capacity, according to the United Na-
tions, and global per capita seafood supplies have declined
by nine percent within the past five years. 21
* In the United States, exploitation of some natural re-
sources already has proven to be unsustainable. Over-har-
vesting of old-growth forests and ocean fish stocks has put
thousands of jobs at risk-the jobs of loggers21 and salmon
fishermen 22 in the Pacific Northwest, and the jobs of fisher-
men in New England. 3
These are the consequences of unsustainable development:
diminishing resources, shrinking employment, and lost opportu-
nities. However, these problems are also inevitable because of
the current population levels, the goods we consume, and the
technologies we use. They are the result of a common failure to
think of the future as we meet the needs of the present.
If the global population doubles within the next generation,
and those ten billion people are to enjoy the same opportunities
we have, then we must find smarter, more efficient ways to pro-
duce goods and services. We must meet our needs while protect-
ing their ability to meet their needs.
Examples of unsustainable growth are found in virtually
every country on earth. In the United States, lumberjacks in the
Northwest 24 and fishermen in the Northeast 25 have seen the

17. Id.
18. See WORLD RESOURCES, supra note 5, at 27-28.
19. WORLD RESOURCES, supra note 5, at 181.
20. WORLD RESOURCES, supra note 5, at 183-84.
21. REPORT OF THE FOREST ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENT TEAM, FOR-
EST ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT: AN ECOLOGICAL, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL ASSESS-
MENT VI-28 (1993) [hereinafter FOREST ECOSYSTEM REPORT].
22. Joan Laatz, Coalition Offers Plan to Save Salmon, THE OREGONIAN, Jan. 19,
1995, at B1, B7.
23. MARGARET E. DEWAR, INDUSTRY IN TROUBLE: THE FEDERAL GOVERN-
MENT AND THE NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 4 (1983).
24. FOREST ECOSYSTEM REPORT, supra note 21, at VI-28.
1995] ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE

painful consequences of unsustainable development. If we want

to protect those kinds of jobs over the long term, we must be
concerned about salmon, trees, and fresh water.
Indeed, the environmental movement of the past quarter-
century has led to notable improvements in many nations, rich
and poor alike. In 1972, environmental leaders assembled in
Stockholm for the world's first environmental summit.26 At that
time, there was no mention of biodiversity loss, global climate
change, or destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer. By the
time the world's leaders assembled in Rio for the Earth Summit
twenty years later, there were global treaties in all three areas. 27
But despite the enormous effort and substantial achieve-
ments, much remains to be done. Vice President Gore has
noted: "It is not that [environmental groups] lack courage, imag-
ination, or skill; it is simply that what they are up against is noth-
'28
ing less than the current logic of world civilization.
Against this backdrop of remarkable achievement but still
daunting problems, President Clinton created the President's
Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD).2 9 The President
wants to change the way environmental and economic policies
are made in the United States.30 He wants to move from con-
frontation to partnership, from gridlock to steady progress, to-
ward a more hopeful, opportunity-filled future.3 '
The PCSD is a ground-breaking partnership formed to ex-
plore and develop policies that encourage economic develop-
ment, the creation of jobs, and the protection of our natural and
cultural heritage. 32 Made up of twenty-five high-ranking repre-
sentatives from industry, government, environmental, labor, and
civil rights organizations, the PCSD has been charged with de-

25. DEWAR, supra note 23, at 4.

26. See UNITED NATIONS STOCKHOLM CONFERENCE ON THE HUMAN ENVIRON-
MENT, DECLARATION ON THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT, U.N. Doc. A/CONF. 48/14 Corr.
(1972), reprinted in 11 I.L.M. 1416 (1972).
27. See UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT,
Rio DECLARATION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, U.N. Doc. A/CONF. 151/5/
Rev. 1 (1992), reprinted in 31 I.L.M. 874 (1992).
28. GORE, supra note 4, at 269.
29. Exec. Order No. 12,852, 3 C.F.R. § 611 (1993) [hereinafter Exec. Order].
30. See generally President William J. Clinton, Address at the Signing of the Exec-
utive Order Creating the President's Council on Sustainable Development (June 14,
1993) [hereinafter Address at the Signing of the Executive Order].
31. Id.
32. Id.
 WILLAMETTE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 31:253

veloping bold new ideas that integrate economic and environ-

mental policies.33
The PCSD is the President's most important environmental
initiative. It represents both a new set of goals and a new collab-
orative process to reach an environmental and economic future
that is sustainable over the long run. Specifically, the PCSD's
mission is to:
* Develop and implement a national sustainable develop-
ment action4 strategy that fosters economic and environmen-
3
tal vitality;
* Raise public awareness about the need for sustainable
35
development and learn from community initiatives;
* Conduct demonstration projects through public-private
partnerships; 36 and
* Develop a Presidential award for outstanding contribu-
tions to sustainable development.37
Over 400 people from around the United States are contributing
to the efforts of eight issue-specific working groups formed
under the PCSD.38
It is no coincidence that the PCSD is pursuing its goals
through a process of consultation, public involvement, and part-
nership. Sustainable development is about doing business
smarter and more efficiently. It taps our greatest resource, the
ingenuity of our people, to develop new policies out of old ideas
and new partnerships out of old adversaries.
To do that we need to change the way we do business. We
need to consider environmental and social costs in our day-to-
day economic decision making. Pollution is economic waste, and
reducing economic waste makes our industries more competi-
tive, more profitable. Strong and effective environmental laws
help create domestic markets for new technologies, which then
foster high-value export industries that provide high-wage jobs.
In fact, many U.S. businesses already are realizing that good en-

33. Exec. Order, supra note 29.

34. Exec. Order, supra note 29.
35. Background Information on President Clinton's Sustainable Development
Council, U.S. Newswire, Inc., June 14, 1993 [hereinafter Background Information].
36. Id.
37. Id.
38. For background on the Council's working groups, see id.; U.S. President
Names Council on Sustainable Development, Cutter Information Corp., July, 1993.
19951 ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE

vironmental practices are also good business practices. Pollution

prevention drives innovation, helps to cut costs, increases pro-
ductivity, and protects jobs.
We live in an interrelated world marked by global industrial
production, global markets, global transfers of information and
technology, global growth, and global ecological degradation.
We must use this opportunity to forge a new global awareness of
the need for sustainability. If we are ever going to move beyond
piecemeal or incremental steps to protect the environment, and
fundamentally change the way we produce and deliver goods
and services, then all of us-business people, environmentalists,
and government representatives alike-will need a far-sighted
conceptual framework for thinking about the future. Sustaina-
ble development provides just such a framework.
In the United States, the PCSD is wrestling with this com-
plicated and contentious issue. The highest level in our country
is committed to working in partnership to make development
sustainable in the United States. We may disagree from time to
time on how to do that, but we agree fully on how much is at
stake: the sustainability of the environment, the economy, and
of life itself.
Most of all, the PCSD is dedicated to expanding and pre-
serving the opportunities of all our children. We want our chil-
dren to be free, and by freedom we mean not just safety but the
opportunity to fulfill all their potential. We want our children to
escape poverty, and by poverty we mean not just material needs
but the lack of opportunity to meet those needs. We want our
children to be healthy, and by healthy we mean not just the ab-
sence of disease, but the opportunity to grow physically without
external impediment or handicap.
Ecological integrity, economic prosperity, clean air, and
water are all linked to opportunity and sustainable development.
Attaining the goal of sustainable development, nationally and in-
ternationally, will be a gargantuan task. In the United States,
the PCSD has accepted the President's challenge. We have be-
gun our work. But whatever we accomplish, it is simply the first
step down a very long road.