I'm working on a dissertation about sustainability and biodiversity, so I used Voyant tools word frequencies on the Bruntland Commission's "Our Common Future."  This 1987, 300 page report is the first major description and definition of sustainability.  Its definition of sustainability as "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" stands as the major definition of sustainability.

What's interesting is that the most used word (after "the", "and", "of", etc) is "development".  This is used more than environment, environmental, sustainable, sustainability (although I'd like to be able to group "environment" and "environmental" and all "develop*").  This supports the common critique that the concept of sustainability has been tied to development and industry since its inception, which helps to explain why "sustainability" has been folded in so easily into regular consumer culture in a way that "environmentalism" has not.  (These days a "sustainable" option is just another one of your consumer choices--shall I buy a "sustainable" backpack, or a hello-kitty backpack?)

The other observation I made with Voyant tools was that the Brundtland report also fits into an idea I've been mulling over about sustainability for a chapter.  I think the concept works in two different modes.  1) It is good at parcelling out a single type of thing (organism, mineral, etc) positioning it as a resource, and asking "can we use this resource indefinitely?" 2) it works on the planetary-view scale.  Sustainability has also been obsessed with imagining and recreating enclosed self-sustaining environments.  Think of the biosphere 2 project, the ecospheres you can see at the American Museum of Natural History, or of terrariums, and also the way the "blue marble" picture of earth is used.  Many science fiction novels that are interested in sustainable societies zoom out for this planetary-view-sustainability.  I think, after looking at this, I might consider the fact that the Brundtland report is drawing on this planetary view version of sustainability that emphasizes that the earth as an enclosed system.  Look at the prevalence of "countries" (plural), "international" "world".

I noticed something new, and will go back to the text to see if it goes anywhere.