That darned Earth. It just won't follow the models

[Johnnny]

Sustainable developement in essence means that you intend to sustain an three dimensional space where your resources will be and nust be developed, space travel would be a boon, developement of the materialists kind is unsustainable on a fixed planetetary mass, I should think.

No, sustainable development means returning the land to the state as it once was before your (the entities) interference... For example if you turn an old open pit into a place where mountain goats or sheep can successfully breed on, then that is sustainable development. This is after the mining is done and as much of the traces have been removed.. Nothing can become 100% in the short term when talking about recovery but you know planting a few trees and avoiding some of the other sensitive stuff goes a long ways.....