Sustainable Development's Origin

The phrase "sustainable development" was defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987. They 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, according to this definition it is unwise to use up these supplies, or we will be threatening the security of all people, in the present and future.

Without getting too complicated, we can think of sustainable development as the ability to co-exist in a way that maintains the natural environment, economic well-being, and an equal opportunity for all people on Earth to benefit from a better quality of life now and in the future. The three are interdependent. Nature is our life-support, there is simply no way around this reality. Only when we have a healthy natural environment, coupled with healthy social systems, can we truly prosper economically. Misleading answers to questions and solutions to problems will be the outcome by looking at any one of these elements in isolation. Consider the plight of many African countries now that are in continual states of poverty, upheaval, and warfare. Are we really addressing their problems in an integrated manner when we address the apparent symptoms instead of attacking the many common causes of these very diverse issues?

But, sustainability is not a "thing we do" or a "program we carry-out". Instead, it is a process by which we reason and a way we choose to live; a process that uses common sense and intuition as a baseline. Sustainability should be viewed as a philosophy, or ethic, affording people the ability to consider long-term consequences of actions and to think broadly across issues, disciplines, and boundaries. As a process, sustainable community development exposes citizens to the ramifications of their thoughts and actions on others, their local environment, and the surrounding landscape, as well as motivating and organizing people to direct change within the context of a responsible and shared vision for a collective future.