Before exploring how sustainability will change economics and business, we need to understand what sustainability is and what it is not, and how it came about as a force in our society. Sustainability began as an ideological crusade about 50 years ago when a few voices in the wilderness gave a clarion call about how our civilization was on a path to self-destruction. They were ignored as fringe fanatics or doomsayers. Nevertheless, many of these early sustainability prophets were scientists who had done their fair share of homework before shouting their apocalyptic warnings from the hilltops. The 1980s and 1990s saw a number of thoughtful leaders further the cause of the early sustainability prophets. Among them was a whole generation of new economists who questioned the sustainability of our prevailing economic theories and practices. There have been a number of pioneering scientists calling for progress towards an elephant economy and business approach. Finally, there have been a number of influential business consulting pioneers, who have sought to translate elephant ideas into a vision of the sustainable economy and the sustainable company.