?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.relation=https%3A%2F%2Fpure.iiasa.ac.at%2Fid%2Feprint%2F4218%2F&rft.title=Science+and+Sustainability%3A+Discussions+and+Comments+on+Selected+Papers+on+IIASA's+20th+Anniversary&rft.creator=Keyfitz%2C+N.&rft.description=IIASA+celebrated+its+twentieth+anniversary+on+May+12-13+with+its+fourth+general+conference%2C+IIASA+'92%3A+An+International+Conference+on+the+Challenges+to+Systems+Analysis+in+the+Nineties+and+Beyond.+The+conference+focused+on+the+relations+between+environment+and+development+and+on+studies+that+integrate+the+methods+and+findings+of+several+disciplines.+The+role+of+systems+analysis%2C+a+method+especially+suited+to+taking+account+of+the+linkages+between+phenomena+and+of+the+hierarchical+organization+of+the+natural+and+social+world%2C+was+also+assessed%2C+taking+account+of+the+implications+this+has+for+IIASA's+research+approach+and+activities.+%0A%0ANo+phrase+that+has+come+out+of+a+conference+has+had+more+resonance+than+%22sustainability.%22+It+was+well+chosen%2C+with+a+suitable+measure+of+ambiguity+yet+specific+enough+to+ring+a+bell+in+most+people's+minds.+In+the+one+word+it+could+claim+to+summarize+the+vast+literature+that+took+off+from+Rachel+Carson+and+the+Club+of+Rome.+It+is+positive%2C+where+%22limits%22+is+for+many+unacceptably+negative.+It+goes+well+in+combination+with+other+desirable+entities%2C+as+in+%22sustainable+growth.%22+This+latter+enables+it+to+appeal+to+the+poor+who+look+to+growth%2C+as+well+as+to+those+better+off+who+focus+on+the+damage+that+growth+causes+to+the+natural+environment.+To+hear+%22sustainable+growth%22+is+reassuring%2C+for+it+seems+to+tell+us+that%2C+in+Harvey+Brooks'+expression%2C+%22economic+development+and+protection+of+the+environment+are+not+necessarily+in+conflict+with+each+other.%22+%0A%0AEnvironmental+study+requires+the+contributions+of+a+number+of+disciplines%2C+and+its+models+bring+together+variables+not+ordinarily+associated+with+one+another.+In+these+regards+it+exemplifies+the+ideas+of+systems+analysis.+But+there+are+other+fields+that+also+bring+out+those+ideas.+The+pension+problem+that+will+soon+face+every+country+as+it+develops%2C+just+as+it+now+faces+the+industrial+countries%3B+uncertainty+is+universal+whenever+models+are+used+to+illuminate+the+long-term+future%3B+every+model+faces+questions+of+identification%2C+in+its+attempt+to+infer+the+underlying+structure+that+generates+the+observed+data%3B+that+the+several+world+models+now+extant+reach+such+different+conclusions+throws+light+on+the+difficulty+of+identification+and+on+the+uncertainties+of+world+modeling.+%0A%0AWe+believe+that+the+papers+contained+in+the+first+volume%2C+%22Science+and+Sustainability%3A+Selected+Papers+on+IIASA's+20th+Anniversary%22+(IIASA%2C+1992)+dealing+with+these+themes%2C+along+with+the+comments+on+the+papers+and+the+reports+of+the+discussion+groups+contained+in+this+volume%2C+will+at+least+help+clarify+difficulties+that+will+always+be+with+us+in+science+as+they+are+in+policy+making.&rft.publisher=CP-94-003&rft.date=1994-04&rft.type=Monograph&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=text&rft.language=en&rft.identifier=https%3A%2F%2Fpure.iiasa.ac.at%2Fid%2Feprint%2F4218%2F1%2FCP-94-003.pdf&rft.identifier=++Keyfitz%2C+N.+%3Chttps%3A%2F%2Fpure.iiasa.ac.at%2Fview%2Fiiasa%2F2026.html%3E++(1994).++Science+and+Sustainability%3A+Discussions+and+Comments+on+Selected+Papers+on+IIASA's+20th+Anniversary.+++IIASA+Collaborative+Paper.+IIASA%2C+Laxenburg%2C+Austria%3A+CP-94-003+++++