223 / Sustainable

I started thinking about what the "indigenous environmental philosophers" who crafted the Redstone Declaration really meant by speaking out against "non-sustainable exploitation and degradation of natural resources."

What does the word, "sustainable" mean, anyway? Is there such a thing as "sustainable degradation?" Is "sustainable exploitation" even possible? The indigenous environmental philosophers may not have shown as much philosophical rigor as might have been wished. The word "sustainable" (or "non-sustainable") may have been surplus. In view of the situation in which we find ourselves, we should perhaps be opting against any exploitation and/or degradation of natural resources.

Unless we really think we can somehow exploit and degrade the resources of Nature in a "sustainable" way.