Sustainability is also the Pacesetter being installed in London’s South Central subway station as a prototype next year, according to the “6th Annual Year of Ideas” published in the December 10, 2006 New York Times Magazine. This energy-harvesting stair case uses small hydraulic generators in the stairs to capture the foot-traffic vibrations of the typical 34,000 people traveling through the station every day during rush hour. Broadly implemented, Pacesetter would generate enough electricity to power all of the lighting and audio equipment in the station, and then some.

We seem to be quickly transcending the sustainability-has-to-make-business-sense rationale for why it has been largely marginalized in American business in decades past. Beyond sustainability devotees’ wildest dreams, sustainability increasingly seems to make intrinsic sense in the newest initiatives. “Everything is working well in relation to everything else,” as Ehrenfeld would say, is a formula that gives new hope that sustainable development could take real hold in the coming years.

The watchdog on sustainability to watch is Ceres. and according to Fast Company, its Global Reporting Initiative is the de facto standard used by 850 companies.