THE ZEN OF SUSTAINABLE USE OF THE PLANET - STEPS ON THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT

At its best, the quest for sustainable use of the planet aspires to a harmonious relationship between human society and natural systems. At its worst, sustainable use is an assertion that human ingenuity and te chnology can free humankind from biophysical constraints and its depen dence upon ecological life support systems. Although science guided by reason is essential to reaching informed decisions on sustainability, it must be accompanied by a new ethos, or set of guiding beliefs. Sci ence can never reduce uncertainty on the complex multivariate systems called ecosystems to the degree that explicit legislation would be pos sible to protect the components on a species by species, habitat by ha bitat, ecosystem by ecosystem, and landscape by landscape basis withou t going to ridiculous extremes. This circumstance does not, however, i nvalidate attempting to define conditions appropriate to achieving sus tainability. Some consensus must be reached on the broad, general cond itions governing human society's relationship to the environment. A sh ared ethos would promote sustainable use and reduce the possibility of harsh penalties exacted upon species that do not respond adequately t o alteration in their environment.