Here the tenacious grip of technological, political
and other constraints becomes clear. From this perspective, sustainable development
has many of the strengths and weaknesses that are evident in other powerful
normative terms such as justice, equality and freedom. Almost no one is opposed to
these perennially attractive ideas; almost no one regards them as trivial; and almost
no one believes that current conditions are perfect and hence no further progress
or improvement is required. Moreover, there are clearly times when these abstract
ideas receive powerful and unqualified real world affirmation—times when there
is overwhelming support, engendered by a perfect storm of factors such as public
receptivity, successful use of communication tools and a well-organized grassroots
movement, for a course of action to redress a real problem that almost everyone
understands. It took only a few years, for example, for the vast majority of the
world’s states to acknowledge that the harm inflicted on civilians by landmines was
egregious and unacceptable, and hence to agree to stop producing, using, trading
and stockpiling antipersonnel landmines immediately.8 But these are exceptional
moments. On countless real and important issues, one finds deep divisions within
and among societies, and change can take generations to emerge and become the
new norm