This text discusses the sustainability issue in the hegemonic form of qualification of a new development. It outlines the origins and the context where the idea of sustainable development has emerged as a result of the confrontation between developed countries and other countries and between environmentalists and developmentalists; analyzes and discusses its dimensions by showing the limits of the three-leaved clovers configuration (environmental, economic and social); exemplifies the polysemy and translates its meaning; shows reasons for the relevance of the sustainability issue; and finally, examines answers that are socially being built due to the possible consequences of environmental crises. In the conclusion, it summarizes the changes that have occurred on the trajectory of understanding sustainability.