A Portal on Sustainability

Definitions of Sustainability

There are as many definitions of sustainability as there are people and organizations dealing with the term. Three aspects most of them have in common are: Limits Interdependence Equity in Distribution

04.05.2005 · Research Group on the Global Future

Principles for Sustainable Development:
"Business as usual is no longer an option - for government, private sector or individual citizens. Our soils, waters, forests and minerals are not inexhaustible. Farms, industries, homes and lifestyles must become more sustainable, in every community on our planet. To be sustainable, development must improve economic efficiency, protect and restore ecological systems, and enhance the well-being of all peoples."

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

"Sustainability is the [emerging] doctrine that economic growth and development must take place, and be maintained over time, within the limits set by ecology in the broadest sense - by the interrelations of human beings and their works, the biosphere and the physical and chemical laws that govern it ... It follows that environmental protection and economic development are complementary rather than antagonistic processes."

William D. Ruckelshaus, "Toward a Sustainable World"
Scientific American, September 1989

"Sustainability is an economic state where the demands placed upon the environment by people and commerce can be met without reducing the capacity of the environment to provide for future generations. It can also be expressed in the simple terms of an economic golden rule for the restorative economy: Leave the world better than you found it, take no more than you need, try not to harm life or the environment, make amends if you do."

Paul Hawken, "The Ecology of Commerce", 1993

"The word sustainable has roots in the Latin subtenir, meaning 'to hold up' or 'to support from below.' A community must be supported from below - by its inhabitants, present and future. Certain places, through the peculiar combination of physical, cultural, and, perhaps, spiritual characteristics, inspire people to care for their community. Theses are the places where sustainability has the best chance of taking hold."

Muscoe Martin, "A Sustainable Community Profile", 1995

"The focus and scale of sustainability efforts depend on local conditions, including resources, politics, individual actions, and the unique features of the community. The sustainable communities approach has been applied to issues as varied as urban sprawl, inner-city and brownfield redevelopment, economic development and growth, ecosystem management, agriculture, biodiversity, green buildings, energy conservation, watershed management, and pollution prevention. Many of these issues and other community problems cannot easily be addressed by traditional approaches or traditional elements within our society. Many people feel it is better to address such problems through a more collaborative and holistic systems approach because such problems are diffuse, multidisciplinary, multiagency, multistakeholder and multisector in nature."

Beth E. Lachman, Critical Technologies Institute, "Linking Sustainable Community Activities to Pollution Prevention: A Sourcebook," April 1997

"A sustainable community is one whose energy economy does not use more energy in a given time than falls on its hinterlands as sunlight in that time, and in which the material economy is circular rather than linear."

Richard Risemberg, "A Paradigm for Sustainability"

"Sustainable Development is predicated on the recognition that economic and environmental goals are inextricably linked."

US National Commission on the Environment 1993

"Sustainability is the optimal balance of natural, economic, and social systems over time."

The Florida Center for Community Design & Research

"A sustainable society is one which satisfies its needs without diminishing the prospects of future generations."

Lester Brown, Founder and President of Worldwatch Institute

"For the business enterprise, sustainable development means adopting business strategies and activities that meet the needs of the enterprise and its stakeholders today while protecting, sustaining, and enhancing the human and natural resources that will be needed in the future."

International Institute for Sustainable Development

"Here sustainable development means a program of domestic economic and political reform that... yields 'broad-based economic progress accomplished in a manner that protects and restores the quality of the natural environment, improves the quality of life for individuals and broadens the prospects for future generations.' It means, in other words, maintaining economic growth while producing the absolute minimum of pollution, repairing the environmental damages of the past, using far fewer non-renewable resources, producing much less waste, and extending the opportunity to live in a pleasant and healthy environment to the whole population."

US Presidents Council on Sustainable Development

All the definitions above were collected by Florida Internet Center for Understanding Sustainability. For more definitions, see also Maureen Hart's Sustainable Measures Site, which provides a variety of definitions, explanations of key terms and links to further information and organizations.