When one tugs at a single thing in nature,
he finds it attached to the rest of the world.
--John Muir
If you read any green blogs or listen to traditional media’s take on the green economy, you have no doubt heard the term “sustainability.” If you are like most, you have a general sense of what the word means, but you may not be able to come up with a clear definition of the concept.
You are not alone! As it turns out there are many, many definitions of sustainability. In fact a brief web search gave me at least 48 different definitions!
Although this multi-faceted term is difficult to grasp, it’s a critical concept to understand if you want to have a green career.
First and Foremost—What is Sustainability?
Let’s begin our conversation with the definition that is cited most frequently. In 1987, a UN report by the World Commission on Environment and Development made the following statement:
“Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable—
to ensure that it meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs.”
In other words, we must not just look at the immediate impact of a project but at how that project will impact future generations.
Second—Sustainability Requires Us to Shift Our Perspective
No longer can we believe our personal and professional actions impact a limited number of people in a limited geographic area.
We must see that our actions and decisions impact the entire world, from what we purchase to what we discard, from how we travel to how we eat. We are part of a much larger system than we realize.
Global warming is a very complex, multi-faceted,
scientific issue. We have no prior experience with this situation to
know for certain how to deal with it. Even scientists, who study climate change
for a living, are learning new information about this issue. (see my recent post about
