In order to judge "true sustainability," suggest the authors of this text, it necessary to judge the path dependency of products over time. They apply this insight to analysis of offshore oil and gas operations, analyzing how current operations produce and release waste during seismic exploration, exploratory drilling and installation of structures, production, and decommissioning of projects. By modeling the fate and behavior of oil discharges in the marine ecosystem, they hope to show that current notions of sustainable management in offshore oil and gas operations are deeply flawed. Their criteria of path dependency suggest that local supply of energy needs can be a better means of achieving sustainability. For example, and counter to much conventional wisdom, wood burning stoves do not produce more pollution that oil and natural gas burning stoves in life-cycle emissions, environmental impacts, and economics are taken into consideration. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)