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Sustainability

The Earth Day flag includes a NASA Blue Marble photo.

Sustainability means that a process or state can be maintained at a certain level for as long as is wanted.

One common definition of sustainability was from the Brundtland Commission, led by the former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The Commission defined sustainable development as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."[1] So sustainability seeks to consider the present with the future in mind.

Sustainability often relates to the connection between economic, social and environmental aspects of human society, as well as the non-human (e.g. animal or plant) environment.[2] Some overarching principles of sustainability include minimalism, efficiency, resilience and self-sufficiency.[3] Sustainability is key to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the SDGs.

Sustainability Media

  • Left, typical representation of sustainability as three intersecting circles. Right, alternative depictions: literal ‘pillars’ and a concentric circles approach

  • Sustainability Venn diagram, where sustainability is thought of as the area where the three dimensions overlap

  • The diagram with three nested ellipses indicates a hierarchy between the three dimensions of sustainability: both economy and society are constrained by environmental limits

  • The wedding cake model for the sustainable development goals is similar to the nested ellipses diagram, where the environmental dimension or system is the basis for the other two dimensions.

  • A circular economy can improve aspects of economic sustainability (left: the 'take, make, waste' linear approach; right: the circular economy approach).

  • Social justice is just one part of social sustainability.

  • Urban sustainability analysis of the greater urban area of the city of São Paulo using the 'Circles of Sustainability' method of the UN and Metropolis Association

  • The doughnut model, with indicators to what extent the ecological ceilings are overshot and social foundations are not met yet

Related pages

Notes and References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ United Nations. 1987. "Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development." General Assembly Resolution 42/187, 11 December 1987. Retrieved: 2007-04-12
  2. ↑ Bridge, C. "Universal design impacts housing sustainability: Cost-benefit evidence."[dead link] The University of Sydney, Faculty of Health Sciences. Retrieved on: July 26, 2007.
  3. ↑ "The Sustainabilitist Framework | The Sustainabilitist". Retrieved 2021-09-01.

References

Bibliography

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  • Bartlett, A. 1998. "Reflections on Sustainability, Population Growth, and the Environment—Revisited" Archived 2012-07-22 at the Wayback Machine revised version (January 1998) of paper first published in Population & Environment, Vol. 16, No. 1, September 1994, pp. 5–35.
  • Benyus, J. 1997. Biomimicry: Innovations Inspired by Nature, William Morrow, New York
  • Brown, M.T. and Ulgiati, S 1999. Emergy Evaluation of Natural Capital and Biosphere Services, AMBIO, Vol.28, No.6, Sept. 1999.
  • Brundtland, G.H. (ed.), (1987), Our common future: The World Commission on Environment and Development, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
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  • Daly, Herman E. (1996). Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development. Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0-8070-4709-5.
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