What Is Sustainability? - YouTube

So what is Sustainability?

You’ve probably heard the term sustainability in some context or another.

Maybe you’ve used some product or service that was labeled as sustainable, or maybe

you're aware of some campus or civic organization that focuses on sustainability.

You may recognize that sustainability has to do with preserving or maintaining resources.

We often associate sustainability with things like recycling, using renewable energy sources

like solar and wind power, and preserving natural spaces like rainforests and coral

reefs.

However, unless you have an inherent interest in sustainability, you probably haven’t

thought much about what the term actually means.

This video provides a basic definition of sustainability.

Simply put, sustainability is the capacity to endure or continue.

If a product or activity is sustainable, it can be reused, recycled, or repeated in some

way because it has not exhausted all of the resources or energy required to create it.

Sustainability can be broadly defined as the ability of something to maintain itself.

Biological systems such as wetlands or forests are good examples of sustainability, since

they remain diverse and productive over long periods of time.

Seen in this way, sustainability has to do with preserving resources and energy over

the long term rather than exhausting them quickly to meet short-term needs or goals.

The term sustainability first appeared in forestry studies in Germany in the 1800s,

when forest overseers began to manage timber harvesting for continued use as a resource.

In 1804, German forestry researcher Georg Hartig described sustainability as “utilizing

forests to the greatest possible extent, but still in a way that future generations will

have as much benefit as the living generation."

So while our current definitions are quite different and much expanded from Hartig’s,

sustainability still accounts for the need to preserve natural spaces, to use resources

wisely, and to maintain them in an equitable manner for all human beings, both now and

in the future.

Sustainability seeks new ways of addressing the relationship between societal growth and

environmental degradation, which would allow human societies and economies to grow without

destroying or over-exploiting the environment or the ecosystems in which those societies

exist.

The most widely quoted definition of sustainability comes from the Brundtland Commission of the

United Nations in 1987, which defined sustainability as meeting “the needs of the present without

compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

As a quick example of sustainability, think about aluminum soda cans.

In the past, many soda cans were used and thrown away without a whole lot of thought.The

practice of throwing them away was unsustainable, since ready sources of aluminum are limited

and landfills and trash dumps were filling quickly with wasted cans.

Consequently, governments and private corporations began to recycle aluminum soda cans, and today

more than 100,000 soda cans are recycled each minute in the United States.

A billion dollar recycling industry has emerged, creating jobs and profits for the workers

and businesses employed in that enterprise, while at the same time using limited resources

more thoughtfully and reducing the impact on the environment.

The process has become cyclical rather than linear, resulting in the continued use of

materials.

But sustainability is about more than just the economic benefits of recycling materials

and resources.

While the economic factors are important, sustainability also accounts for the social

and environmental consequences of human activity.

This concept is referred to as the “three pillars of sustainability,” which asserts

that true sustainability depends upon three interlocking factors: environmental preservation,

social equity, and economic viability.

First, sustainable human activities must protect the earth’s environment.

Second, people and communities must be treated fairly and equally—particularly in regard

to eradicating global poverty and the environmental exploitation of poor countries and communities.

And third, sustainability must be economically feasible—human development depends upon

the long-term production, use, and management of resources as part of a global economy.

Only when all three of these pillars are incorporated can an activity or enterprise be described

as sustainable.

Some describe this three-part model as: Planet, People and Profit.

Our current definitions of sustainability—particularly in the United States—are deeply influenced

by our historical and cultural relationship with nature.

Many American thinkers, writers, and philosophers have focused on the value of natural spaces,

and those ideas contributed to the environmentalist movement that emerged in the second half of

the 20th century.

Grassroots environmental organizations like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club advocate for

the protection and restoration of nature, and they lobby for changes in public policy

and individual behavior to preserve the natural world.

Seen in this way, Environmentalism and sustainability have a lot in common.

In fact, some people think that our current conversations about sustainability are the

next development or evolution of environmentalism.

However, earlier environmental debates often pitted the environment against the economy—nature

vs. jobs—and this dichotomy created a rift between those supporting one side of the debate

against the other.

Many of the current discussions involving sustainability hope to bridge the gap by looking

for possibilities that balance a full range of perspectives and interests.

Sustainability encourages and provides incentives for change rather than mandating change, and

the three pillars of sustainability emphasize this incorporation.

Essentially though, sustainability looks for coordinated innovation to create a future

that merges environmental, economic, and social interests rather than setting them in opposition.

In some ways, sustainability is the most important conversation taking place in our society today.

The earth is our home, and it provides all of the things we need for our survival and

nourishment.

However, that home has limited resources, and our collective future will depend upon

the successful management and use of those resources.

We are living in a critical time, where global supply of natural resources and ecosystem

services is declining dramatically, while demand for these resources is escalating.

From pollution, to resource depletion, to loss of biodiversity, to climate change, a

growing human footprint is evident.

This is not sustainable.

We need to act differently if the world and its human and non-human inhabitants are to

thrive in the future.

Sustainability is about how we can preserve the earth and ensure the continued survival

and nourishment of future generations.

You and everyone you know will be affected in some way by the choices our society makes

in the future regarding the earth and its resources.

In fact, your very life may well depend upon those choices.