What Sustainability Is and Is Not!
(Section Summary)

With the amount of focus on sustainability these days, it is a good idea to make clear what it is and as importantly, what it is not. Sustainable development is not walking a tight rope, seeking some mythical balance between economics and environment (Bernard and Young, 1997). Sustainability has been co-opted by organizations that are deeply vested in maintaining the status quo. Corporate policies that call for “sustainable economic growth” are a prime example. Maintaining the status quo is not what sustainability is about!

To mistake sustainable development for environmental conservation, or vice versa, is also not on mark. All too often sustainability is equated directly with environmentalism and the belief that advocates want to protect the environment at all costs, including people’s jobs and general societal well-being. Other areas of our lives and our planet need to be included in the sustainability discussion. If we are acting sustainably from a broader, system-wide perspective the environment is preserved. Likewise, the transference of a problem from one place or media (e.g., air, land, or water) to another is not a sustainable solution.

Sustainability is most fundamentally equity over time and place, making sure we consume less than Earth’s natural resources can provide. Economic development (the foundation of today’s globalization pattern) that is sustainable must be both environmentally sound and shared fairly among all societal members determined by a system’s evaluation. At the heart of an ‘integrated’ or ‘holistic’ approach that characterizes sustainability is a determination to understand and take account of the relationships between different aspects of life through a systems approach. The socio-economic, cultural, environmental, and physical development of any place comprises a complex set of relationships between different factors. These interrelations need to be fully understood before the nature of any intervention can be determined. In this way, sustainability encourages a re connection with nature, developing a profound understanding for the concepts of care that underpin long term stewardship of the places we call home, offering people an ability to fully appreciate the environment's relationship to our economic and social systems. .......... read more!

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