Particularly because the mla lacks a division on environmental literature, it is gratifying that the organization is turning attention to environmental studies through forums such as this one. Many more in the profession than the fourteen hundred members of the Association for Study of Literature and the Environment take some interest in environmental literature and would like to foster sustainability through their teaching or research. Yet the term is problematic: a popular buzzword, its parameters are vague, and consequently the more difficult questions underlying the concept are too easily evaded. Sustainability of what and for whom? we might ask. Are people talking about sustaining complicated, interwoven biotic communities, sustaining humankind, or sustaining a comfortable lifestyle currently enjoyed by the privileged classes around the globe? What are the term's qualitative implications? What constitute appropriate standards for sustainability, and who decides? What political and economic policies will be necessary? Where will we get the motivation, the will to institute them? Where does sustainability intersect with issues of environmental and social justice, and how will we address the many ethical questions it raises?