As a lazy blogger, I refer readers to an interesting debate on the reality of sustainable development that is proceeding in the Economist (link below). Climate change figures frequently in this debate because, to some, it illustrates the danger of unsustainable development. The moderator makes one of the best observations in his summing up and I quote this here

Another way of looking at things, though, is to ask what can be tolerated and fixed, and what is simply intolerable, because it is irreversible. Here, science can help at least to analyse the problem. ...Many natural systems can be pushed so far and no further. If pushed beyond a threshold, they will find a new equilibrium, and pushing them back whence they originally came will be hard indeed. (from Mr Geoff Carr).

I commend readers to visit the original if, for no other reason, because it is interesting to see how the protagonists (a lawyer and medical scientist) view the issues of sustainable development. See Economist debate on Sustainable Development here