BOOK 3: ENRON ASCENDING: THE FORGOTTEN YEARS, 1984-1996
Chapter 7 Internet Appendix
7.1 PCSD and Sustainable Development
References for Chapter 1 Appendix
7.1 PCSD and Sustainable Development
In Executive Order No. 12852 (1993), establishing the President’s Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD), sustainable development was defined as “economic growth that will benefit present and future generations without detrimentally affecting the resources or biological systems of the planet.” This formulation was based on the classic 1987 Brundtland Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development defining sustainability as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission, 43; PCSD, p. iv).
PCSD existed from June 1993 until June 1999 (two three-year terms). Its major report was released in February 1996: Sustainable America: A New Consensus for Prosperity, Opportunity, and A Healthy Environment for the Future. The Vision Statement of this document read (p. iv):
Our vision is of a life-sustaining Earth. We are committed to the achievement of a dignified, peaceful, and equitable existence. A sustainable United States will have a growing economy that provides equitable opportunities for satisfying livelihoods and a safe, healthy, high quality life for current and future generations. Our nation will protect its environment, its natural resource base, and the functions and viability of natural systems on which all life depends.
Sustainable Development was defined elsewhere as “the idea that the quality of the country rests on integrating the economy, equity, and environment in national policy” (p. i). This tripartite vision, which went beyond the sustainability views of the Brundtland Report, was restated as follows (p. 4):
Prosperity, fairness, and a healthy environment are interrelated elements of the human dream of a better future. Sustainable development is a way to pursue that dream through choice and policy.
The hundreds of recommendations in the 186-page report were advertised as “a beginning, the start of a national journey toward sustainability, but not a detailed roadmap” (p. i). To critics, however, Sustainable America was a Magna Carta for eco-intervention by government with heavy-handed instruction for civil society. An alternative view based on private property rights and market incentives, Free Market Environmentalism, is explored in Internet Appendix 13.1, “Sustainable Development: Two Views.”
References for Chapter 7 Appendix
President’s Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD). Sustainable America: A New Consensus. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, February 1996 (PCSD).
World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1987. (Also known as United Nations’ Brundtland Report).