notion designed to achieve a state of equilibrium between development and con-
servation across the spectrum of human experience. Advocates of sustainability
seek to avoid the pitfalls and degradational consequences of thetragedy of the
commons, a situation in which a resource is mismanaged and potentially lost
because of a lack of communal oversight and concern. Both raising awareness
and implementing practice are vital to achieving sustainability, and the United
Nations has been a strong proponent of the concept, especially through the vehicle
of the UN Earth Summit meetings held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and Johannes-
burg in 2002. The meeting in Rio generated Agenda 21, a detailed set of objectives
meant to promote and highlight the potential benefits of sustainability, as well as to
articulate mechanisms for reaching an equilibrium of production and consumption
economically, ecologically, and socially.
The use and status of “capital” lies at the heart of sustainability. There are
at least three types of capital that are important when considering sustainability.
Economic capitalrepresents capital in the standard way that economists use the
term; that is, something of economic value that serves as the means of production.
Thismightmeanfinancialcapital,oritcould indicate the physical attributes of
production like machines, factories, tools, etc.Social capitalgenerally refers to
the social connections and shared communal values found in any group of signifi-
cant size. This capital has value because the interrelationships it represents provide
cohesion and integration to the social structure of a community or organization,
without which the group tends to fracture and perhaps disperse. The sources of
Sustainable Development 333Green Revolution
The term “green revolution” applies to the funding and development of advanced agricultural
technology by Western agencies, and its subsequent transfer to the developing world. The
“revolution” began in the 1940s, when the Rockefeller Foundation established a research
center in Mexico devoted to developing high yield varieties (HYVs) of wheat and corn. The
new hybrids were genetically engineered to store more calories in the grain and to produce
larger grain heads. In the early 1960s the focus shifted to rice production in Asia, and a
“miracle rice” hybrid emerged from research that dramatically increased yields in India, the
Philippines, and other rice-growing countries. While Green Revolution programs are gener-
ally acclaimed as successful and have certainly enabled countries with high rates of population
growth to feed their people, critics argue that there are also many negative side effects. For
example, the HYVs typically require large amounts of water, fertilizer, and pesticides, which
tend to damage the local ecological system, especially in the case of rice production. In addi-
tion, proponents ofMalthusian Theoryclaim that while the new technologies have staved
off famine currently, they cannot do so indefinitely. Some scholars have noted that the hybrids
frequently contain less nutrition than traditional varieties and are susceptible to crop failure.