Although “the environment” in an MDG context is often perceived as being confined to MDG7, which addresses serious issues such as freshwater scarcity, the spread of slums, greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting emissions, biodiversity loss and deforestation, the environment in reality is more complex. All the challenges addressed by MDG7 need to be seen also in the context of their relationship to poverty, education, health, and equitable access to opportunity. These challenges need to be targeted with international collaboration and policy solutions that reflect a multi-dimensioned understanding of the biosphere and its limits, of society and its divisions, of the political economy and its drivers, and last but not least, of our changing economic compass and the evolution in thinking that is needed to actually measure our progress towards a safe economic and ecological destination.