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  3. There was a time when ’sustainable development’ meant economic development and growth—not, as we know it today, environmentally

There was a time when ’sustainable development’ meant economic development and growth—not, as we know it today, environmentally

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问题     There was a time when ’sustainable development’ meant economic development and growth—not, as we know it today, environmentally sustainable development. The change in meaning can be traced to the 1987 report Our Common Future, involving social scientists, natural scientists, industrialists, environmentalists and policymakers emerging from their silos to talk to each other to understand how humans alter the global environment. It helped such collaborative processes to become mainstream, alongside the idea of treating the environment and development as one issue.
    Some fields quickly grasped that interdisciplinary work is essential to understanding environmental change, and to mitigating—or adapting to—its effects. Confirming a human cause for climate change required the combined efforts of meteorologists, oceanographers and geographers, among others. Replacing the ozone-depleting chemicals used in spray cans and refrigerators needed chemists to talk to product designers. But, as a report this week in Nature Sustainability shows, other fields have not got so far in their interdisciplinary journey.
    Behavioral science has an existing and essential relationship to the built environment: we have to study how people live, work and move to create liveable buildings and towns. But the group established that, when it comes to sustainability, there’s room for closer working, and the report amounts to an agenda for joint research. Potential questions include: how do architects and designers make decisions? To what extent can behavioural science in other contexts be applied to sustainable design and architecture? Do architects feel a duty to promote responsible energy use?
    Cross-disciplinary working requires careful communication and confidence-building. As the example of defining sustainable development shows, disciplines have their own languages and can interpret terms differently.
    One way to ease disciplinary tensions could be to underscore that sustainability calls for behavioural change at all levels—necessitating more research across all sectors. Governments, for example, often interact with independent researchers who study how to improve policy, including how government itself needs to adapt if it is to drive sustainability more effectively. Similarly, business schools produce case studies on how companies can adapt to facilitate that change. Behavioural research could help all of us—individuals and communities—to make changes to how we behave, whether it is taking more public transport or just turning the thermostat down a degree.
    Along with governments, industry and individuals, the built environment consumes energy and produces waste, which makes it just as pivotal to sustainability. As the Nature Sustainability report says, collaborating effectively and learning from each other can be tough. But considering the planetary situation, not doing so has much higher costs.
What is the author’s attitude towards realizing sustainability in the future?
选项 A、pressing
B、indifferent
C、cautious
D、confused
答案 A
解析 在第六段作者提到《自然可持续发展》报告指出合作的过程是艰难的，但是如果考虑到当前的情况，不合作所付出的代价会更大。由此可知，未来的可持续发展是必要且紧急的，故选项[A]pressing“紧要的”为正确答案。
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