That our civilization is in crisis and ultimately non-sustainable is now hardly questioned. This first chapter introduces and discusses the range of problems that now confront us, including such issues as climate change, resource depletion, biodiversity loss, conflict and other now all too familiar areas of concern, but links them specifically to underlying cultural factors. It explores the meaning of the term 'sustainability" and in particular its cultural dimensions. It links this to contemporary debates about culture and development and introduces the discussion, which is expanded greatly later in the book, of what a sustainable culture might look like, and sets out the plan of the whole book as it proposes to address this issue.