‘Sustainable development’ has become a dominant discourse for anything remotely environmental in the 1990s. While the term originated in a specific historical context, its apparent universality is an important reason for its mobilising power. However, is this likely to lead to ‘ecologically meaningful’ policies? This paper explores competing discourses of sustainability and then looks at what the author considers to be ecologically necessary, rather than what may be immediately politically achievable, in order to address sustainability effectively.