This chapter will consider sustainability from an
environmental security perspective. The discussion
will briefly trace the environmental security concept
in the West, and its influence on policy in the United
States and Russia, the two superpowers in the last half
of the 20th century. Russia is of interest not only as
a continuing global power, but also as a nation with
an unmatched wealth of natural resources, which has
undergone catastrophic damage from neglect of its
environmental security. Russia’s attention to envi-
ronmental security is important to the health of the
global ecosystem and world energy supplies, but also
to the global balance of power, and therefore to Unit-
ed States interests. Failure by either of these nations
to adopt more sustainable policies will severely affect
their domestic well being, but will also likely change
the balance of global power in ways that diminish
their ability to act.
The United States should provide global leader-
ship in pursuing sustainable ecosystem policies, be-
cause finding sustainable products and processes to
meet human needs is critical to our own well being,
and is a factor for international stability. If sustainable
practices are not soon adopted by the global powers,
we are likely to experience an abundance of disrup-
tive effects on the environment, on economies and so-
cieties across regional and national borders.
Environmental Security Concept – Growth: 1980s
and 1990s
In the post-WWII period, the United States and
USSR faced off in a bipolar struggle wherein security,
backed by nuclear weapons, became the paramount
concern of foreign affairs. National security was nar-
rowed to power relations, and power was calculated