The following is a letter I wrote that appeared in the Grand Forks Herald on April 27, 2008. The title is, "World can't sustain continued growth".

YURIHONJO, Japan — Brett Narloch of the North Dakota Policy Council wrote, "Sustainable development is nothing more than socialism by another name." ("'Socialism by another name' at UND," Page A4, April 22). Narloch is wrong. I don't know the group he mentions at UND; it doesn't matter. What matters is this: when you have increasing demand for resources that are running out and can't reasonably be replaced, you're setting yourself up for disaster. That's a simple fact.

Sustainable development says to develop along lines that work with this fact. For instance, continued growth is not sustainable. You run out of things such as oil, farmland, water and clean air. Unsustainable development is ... unsustainable. That means it won't work later, even if it does now. Let's face development with our heads on straight so we don't get surprised at where we end up.

Douglas Perkins