Foreword for NATO special

Abstract

This special issue of the journal offers 18 selected papers presented at a NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) entitled Technological Choices for Sustainability, held in Maribor, Slovenia from 13 to 17 October 2002. Speakers and presenters from 27 countries from Europe and North America were assembled to discuss the scientific and technological issues confronting the implementation of the idea of sustainable development. The Scientific and Environmental Affairs Division of NATO was the main sponsor of the workshop; the co-sponsors were several ministries of the Republic of Slovenia, The British and the American Embassies in Slovenia, and Adria Airways. The main motivation for the workshop was to seek a scientific understanding of the idea of sustainability and evaluate potential technological choices for the journey towards sustainability. We observed that thus far sociopolitical debates have overwhelmed the scientific discourse on sustainability. This gap between extant rhetoric and needed knowledge was also pointed out in a report of the U.S. National Research Council in Our common journey: a transition toward sustainability (National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1999): The political impetus that carried the idea of sustainable development so far and so quickly in public forums has also increasingly distanced it from its scientific and technological base. As a result, even when the political will necessary for sustainable development has been present, the knowledge and know-how to make some headway often has not.