Understanding sustainable development in the context of other emergent environmental perspectives

Concepts of preservation, conservation, and development shaped in large part the debate about U.S. environmental policy at the end of the 19th century. Forest use was often the focal point of controversy. Throughout the 20th century, Americans continued debating forest use, but by the late 20th century, the assumption that 19th century beliefs prevailed had begun to create a barrier to understanding changing perspectives. This paper begins by discussing one of these new perspectives, sustainable development, which has gained international prominence since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development after being mentioned in the 1986 World Commission on Environment and Development's Our Common Future. Following the introduction to sustainable development, this paper briefly presents the results of a 1989 study using Q methodology, which identified the emergence of sustainable development as one of several beliefs in a more complex framework of perspectives on forest use than had been assumed. In addition to sustainable development, this new framework included beliefs in nature as a community to be respected, a place for personal growth, a means for demonstrating self-reliance, and a rallying point for grassroots activism. This paper examines sustainable development in the context of these other belief types and concludes by cautioning policymakers to consider these additional policy arguments and define the policy agenda more fully.