**Author details**

obligations and hope are signalised in one package. The formulation calls for cooperation, and

In order to realize a sustainable future, we have to deviate from "business as usual". This calls for alternative thinking, based on fruitful concepts and well-founded attitudes. A literature review illustrates how the unclear concept of "sustainable development" from 1987 has undergone a considerable conceptual refinement. Today's conceptual framework is, however, still too weakly developed to encourage community development onto a sustainable track. For instance, the concept of "green economy", accepted by The World Bank, large companies and national leaders in several of the richest countries at the Rio+10 meeting in 2012, is foggy enough to "greenwash" unsustainable economic activity by making only cosmetic changes. The concept also contains a premise about further economic growth, which is a main cause of environmental degradation. A lack of concensus about precise concepts and principles is a threat to sustainability. The author suggests that concept development about sustainability should be regarded as an important academic task. There is a need to coin and define new, fruitful concepts, to give existing concepts a more precise meaning, to point at misuse of concepts, and to identify topics which are excluded from the debate due to a lack of operable concepts. For example, the value of deep personal experiences in contact with nature is difficult to communicate to others, but of great personal importance for some people. Progress within certain complicated fields, for instance how to combine economic, environmental and social sustainability, depends upon research. Environmental challenges may be of local character,

and different social and economic structures may need different conceptual models.

This literature review about the rise of ecological thinking illustrates how basic, scientific concepts can be modified and applied in sustainable thinking and practice. To cooperate with nature's own processes has become a main aim in environmental sustainability. Our depend‐ ence upon a well-functioning nature is illustrated by the concept of "ecological service". This fruitful concept has initiated many new studies and calculations, and increased our awareness about saving nature qualities. However, the concept is strongly anthropocentric, and too narrow to secure biodiversity. Fortunately, the Convention on Biological Diversity is based on

Some writers stress the importance of listing "non-sustainable activities". This is a constructive approach. The concepts of "environmental crime", "ecological crime", or "eco-crime" deserve to be used more actively, for instance by NGO's when criticising environmentally harmful

Well-founded attitudes are another prerequisite for a sustainable development. Attitudes motivate us for change, and support our endurance. However, non-sustainable attitudes are common, as well as a lack of attitudes in this field. A personal developmental process is necessary to alter our attitudes about sustainability - they cannot simply be adopted. A wellfounded attitude is based on adequate knowledge and conscious evaluation. This means that

opens a door for change.

152 Environmental Change and Sustainability

**8. Conclusions**

a biocentric view.

activity.
