I've been skeptical of terms as they come and go. (earlier post) Sustainability, again, is one of them. Yup, cultural definitions evolve and morph. But when the tag for the future dynamic of Earth jumps all over the map, we need to take stock of what exactly is at stake.
The following definitions were compiled and distributed recently by a conference session here in Madison. They represent some current versions of sustainability. I'm taking the liberty to comment. Others?
The following definitions were compiled and distributed recently by a conference session here in Madison. They represent some current versions of sustainability. I'm taking the liberty to comment. Others?
- Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations to meet their own needs.
Brundtland Report (World Commission on Environment & Development)
Is sustainable development an oxymoron?
- Sustainable design is the set of perceptual and analytic abilities, ecological wisdom, and practical wherewithal essential to making things that fit in a world of microbes, plants, animals, and entropy. In other words, (sustainability) is the careful meshing of human purposes with the larger patterns and flows of the natural world, and careful study of those patterns and flows to inform human purposes.
David Orr, Ecological Literacy
Philosophically sound if humans follow suit with patterns and flows.
- Sustainability is the ability to achieve continuing economic prosperity while protecting the natural systems of the planet and providing a high quality of life for its people. Achieving sustainable solutions calls for stewardship, with everyone taking responsibility for solving the problems of today and tomorrow-individuals, communities, businesses and governments are all stewards of the environment.
Environmental Protection Agency
This government agency has two sides to its mouth: economic prosperity vs. stewardship. Paradox.
- Sustainability is asking ourselves today: How much do we really need? Then, not taking more from the earth than that.
Alliance for Global Sustainability Principle Investors
Huh…?
- A transition to sustainability involves moving from linear to cyclical processes and technologies. The only processes we can rely on indefinitely are cyclical; all linear processes must eventually come to an end.
Dr. Karl Henrik-Robert, MD, founder of The Natural Step, Sweden
True.
- Sustainability is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. Long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems. For humans, sustainability is the potential for long-term maintenance of wellbeing, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions.
Wikipedia (Jan 2011)
The first sentence is true, which is why resilience may be a better overall concept than sustainability.
- Sustainability occurs when human activity does not adversely affect the quality of the environment and resource base available for future generations of living things on the planet.
Alliance for Global Sustainability Principle Investors
Many resource bases have already been altered beyond future availability.
- Sustainability is equity over time. As a value, it refers to giving equal weight in your decisions to the future as well as the present. You might think of it as extending the Golden Rule through time, so that you do unto future generations (as well as to your present fellow beings) as you would have them do unto you.
Robert Gilman, Director Context Institute
Yes. ["Why should I do anything for future generations. They haven't done anything for me." Groucho Marx]
- Leave the world better than you found it, take no more than you need, try not to harm life or the environment, make amends if you do.
Paul Hawken
True, but already unattainable.
- A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.
Aldo Leopold, A Land Ethic, from Sand County Almanac
Simple and wise…
- Clean air, clean water, safety in city parks, low-income housing, education, child care, welfare, medical care, unemployment (insurance), transportation, recreation/cultural centers, open space, wetlands...
Hazel Wolf, Seattle Audubon Society
Finally getting to the social justice?
