During the past decade, "sustainable development" has been widely promoted as a means of implementing environmentally sensitive development policies and achieving ecological integrity. In Sharing the Earth, Tarla Rai Peterson explains how this provocative concept - the meaning of which remains contested - is understood, discussed, and implemented within specific communities. By analyzing the rhetoric of those who define sustainable development and advocate its implementation, she identifies points of tension among the term's various interpretations and how the concept may be brought to bear in resolving conflicts, promoting research, and establishing ecologically sound public policy.