ABSTRACT

The answer to the question posed in our title here must be that this depends on two issues. One is the framework of time and space that is in focus; the other is whether we are regarding sustainability as a state of simple continuity or as a state that adjusts to, or incorporates change into, itself. A framework of time and space needs to be specified, or at least sketched-out, bearing in mind the aphorism that nothing lasts forever. Correlatively, the concept of sustainability needs to include some recognition of adaptation and change because in order to maintain some variables, or patterns of behavior and practice, as well as the values of the social actors involved, change has to come into play in order to sustain these values. For example, if an agricultural regimen that depends on a certain crop is rendered at risk by the entry of a disease that attacks this crop, people may seek to find a comparable crop that can replace it as a major source of subsistence.