Great article with John R. Ehrenfeld and his spin on sustainability: http://bit.ly/1Mab1 He says, "I define sustainability as the possibility that human and other life will flourish on the planet forever." Yes! See my blog on how I defined sustainability. I think we can find solutions that will allow life to thrive. The future won't look like ours, nor can we predict it or plan it or measure it.
I like the way he talks about green companies: "They think they’re going to save the environment, when what they’re really doing is just reducing unsustainability a little bit." Yes, it's good to reduce unsustainability, but we need a whole new focus on how to design for enabling sustainability.
I haven't read his book yet (Sustainability by Design), but I bet it fits right in with my philosophy of life cycle thinking. We need to think through the whole life cycle for how to avoid unintended adverse consequences and to guide responsible actions and products.