It is argued that ‘sustainable development’ has been defined in such a way as to be either morally repugnant or logically redundant. ‘Strong’ sustainability, overriding all other considerations, is morally unacceptable as well as totally impractical and ‘weak’ sustainability, in which compensation is made for resources consumed, offers nothing beyond traditional economic welfare maximization. Apart from a few small developing countries heavily dependent on minerals or other finite primary products, the measurement of some wider concept of ‘sustainable’ GNP is a waste of time and such estimates as have been made are virtually worthless. [Note: The SSL contains two responses to this article, one by Herman Daly and another by Salah El Serafy.]
