Planning the Future: The Conserver Society and Canadian Sustainability.

Canadian scholars know by heart the exhortation to think globally and act locally. Fewer, however, are familiar with the expansion of scientific knowledge and state policy that made it possible to think of the world as a global system and act on those beliefs. This article explores this interplay of scientific expertise, state power, and environmental politics by analyzing the Science Council of Canada (scc)'s "conserver society" of the 1970s. My research reveals how the scc, a Crown corporation, became a key player in Canadian environmentalism when it used the oil crisis and the Trudeau government's rationalizing reforms as an excuse to pioneer alternative development and to help Canadians grapple with the challenge of long-term sustainability. The article asserts that state experts played a central role in the construction of early forms of sustainability. Their efforts also highlight the multifaceted character of sustainable development as it promised to catalyze national growth, social change, and scientific achievement even as it protected Canadians' ecological future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]