The policy of sustainable development, outlined for the first time in 1987 by the United Nations, aims to provide a macro-scale solution to the growing global environmental and societal problems and failures, such as increases in pollution, waste accumulation, decreasing biodiversity, increase in population, poverty of the majority of people and instability of developing countries to develop their economies. The natural capital of the environment and of natural resources is more threatened than ever by continued population and economic growth.  However, in the 30 years since the publication of “Limits to Growth”, the concerns have changed: We are not exhausting mineral resources and fossil fuels, but the impact of their use on the environment is becoming critical. Economic growth is still tightly linked to growth in resource use, and now contributes more to increased pressures than population growth itself.