Marien, M. 1994a. "Visions of Sustainability: Introduction." Futures 26 (2): 115-116.

Thesis:

Sustainability is at the center of 'future studies'. "Our Future, if we are to have one, must be sustainable" (p.116).

Summary:

Marien, as editor of a special Futures issue on sustainability puts forth the purpose of the issue as two-fold: (1) to compile of the latest thoughts of some of the greatest thinkers on sustainability; and (2) to "confront those futurists who have yet to incorporate sustainability matters into their thinking" (p.115).

He introduces HOLIS: The Society for a Sustainable Future, of which the contributors to the issue are members. The contributors address problems in our dominant social paradigm (Lester Milbrath); social indicators which can be used to assess sustainability (Hazel Henderson); U.S. population growth and how that impacts other nations (Virginia Abernethy); the I=PAT formula, where impacts are the result of population times affluence times technology (Robert Goodland et al and Robert L. Olson); the necessary transition from industrial era agriculture to sustainable food and fiber systems (Kenneth A. Dahlberg); addressing basic human needs of an sustainable society such as shared meaning (Mary E. Clark); the consideration of work, employment and income distribution in relation to sustainability (Sally Lerner); the evolution of the sustainability process, requiring a "human social genome project" (Dennis Pirages); indicators of needed changes and strategies for change (Walter H. Corson); residential energy conservation (Doug McKenzie-Mohr); our evolution toward a sustainable-species society (Duane Elgin); and how to address the problems of infoglut and competing problems as barriers to sustainability (Michael Marien)

Keywords: future studies, sustainability