Advancing Toward 'Eden': A response to: Ludwig et al. 1997. 'Sustainability, Stability, and Resilience'

Abstract

"There are two ways to exploit natural systems. Rip-off or restore. While self-serving euphemisms (e.g., 'green,' 'sustainability,' 'reforestation,' and 'the' ecology) may be as repulsive to purists as they are appealing to reformers and spin-hypers alike, they do serve the purpose of laying a stone or two toward bridging the gap between the rampant masses and the enlightened. So what's the next stepping stone between scientific understanding, applications that work, and broad enough acceptance of the implications of the applications and the science behind them? In most of my work (highway cuts and fills, pipelines, landfills, and the like), 'equilibrium' is not an issue. The patient is, theoretically, dead."