Inbox S-words and U-bends

摘要

I was interested to read your article "Jolly green clients" (21 July, page 44), which highlighted the bewilderment that still surrounds the term "sustainability". It is not surprising that people are confused by it when other words such as "green", "energy efficiency" and "CO_2 emissions" are bandied about with little regard to their true meaning. The Oxford English Dictionary gives definitions for the word sustain as: "1 To strengthen or support something; 2 to bear the weight of something; 3 to keep something going over time; or 4 to suffer something unpleasant." Until fairly recently, most people seem to have been split between numbers three and four.