Planting the Seed
(Section Summary)

The idea of sustainability first reach the global stage when the Brundtland Commission attempted to address two difficult and apparently conflicting problems: increasing environmental degradation and failure of initiatives to attack poverty conditions (Gibson, 2002). The Commission set forth that "sustainable development is improving people's life-enabling habits to meet our needs in the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." Natural resources such as water, air, soil, plants, and animals are the basic assets upon which all life, human and otherwise, depends. Therefore, it is unwise to use up these supplies, or we will be threatening the security of all people, in the present and future.

In trying to envision the big picture, sustainable development suggests working to improve people’s well-being (often equated to economic condition) without damaging or undermining society or the environment – development that provides real improvements in the quality of human life and at the same time conserves the vitality and diversity of the Earth. Commitment to human and societal well-being is as important as ecological commitment to the planet in promoting sustainability. We must preserve a planet fit to live on and also create institutions that sustain the quality of our socio-economic life.

While progressing on the sustainability front may require different actions in various regions of the world because of cultural differences, the efforts to build a truly sustainable way of life require the integration of action in three key areas: the parallel consideration of healthy environments, life, and human well-being. Sustainability provides a multi-dimensional way of thinking about the interdependencies among natural, social, and economic systems in our world. And the ultimate goal is to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. It is important to recognize a sustainable development framework as an essential way to organize our work on problem-solving. By following principles of sustainability we can overcome unanticipated consequences of short-sighted solutions that deal only with the symptoms of our problems rather than their underlying causes. .......... read more!

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