Nuclear Myth-Busting Series: Coalition for Clean Green Saskatchewan

Why Nuclear Power Is Not a Way to Create a Sustainable Society

By Jim Harding, Ph. D.

"Presented at “Planting the Seed: Development and Sustainability of Natural Resources in Saskatchewan,” 6th Annual nrt Conference, siast Woodland Campus, Prince Albert, March 12, 2009 What Does Sustainability Mean? The use of the term “sustainability” grows rapidly and is becoming a catchphrase for everything from “green products” that “sustain” profitable markets, to changing technologies to better “sustain” eco-systems. Some confusion comes from the term “sustainable development,” created in 1987 by the United Nations’ World Commission on Environment and Development. Many government and corporate bodies have defined sustainable development as sustaining perpetual economic growth. But this isn’t the fundamental meaning. In its Overview the un report says that “sustainable development” means humanity meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”1 In a nutshell, sustainable development is about inter-generational justice – learning to think about “seven generations,” as some Indigenous cultures would put it. There are several aspects to this, the most challenging being reconciling human development with ecological carrying capacity and the limits to growth; also tackling glaring and growing global inequalities, and, as part of this, getting better at meeting basic human needs. Protecting watersheds and biodiversity is paramount."


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