Sustainability - What Does It Really Mean?

Why should we care about sustainability? The world isn't just going to suddenly end because people are still driving their SUVs. That is true, but the implications of our reckless environmental actions will eventually catch up to us. The unraveling of civilization may lie in our future if we continue on our current course. That statement may seem a tad bit extreme, but is relevant to consider. There are major flaws with the way we are operating as a society. The effects of our action are already causing problems. Food and water shortages, along with soil erosion and raising global temperatures are all too real and are projected to only get worse.

One of the earliest thinkers to consider the concept of sustainability was Thomas Malthus (1766–1834). He was concerned about natural limits particularly the exponential growth of human population and food availability (he believed agricultural production was linear in growth and would not be able to keep up with a rapidly expanding human population.) Malthusian theory was however somewhat disproved by the industrialization of modern high yield agriculture. In the coming future his theory may be more relevant because of the environmental pressures humans are exerting on the world.

There developed to be two views of sustainability regarding the role of humans in the world. One was anthropocentric (humans are the center of the world) and the other was non-anthropocentric (the world is the center of the world and we are just part of it). The Anthropocentric view has dominated the sustainability scene, and is most easily applied to our society.

The work of the American forester-conservationist Gifford Pinchot (1865–1946) has also had a major influence on the idea of sustainability. Pinchot mission was “based on the elimination of waste, and directed toward the best use of all we have for the greatest good of the greatest number for the longest time” (Pinchot 1914, p. 25). His main principle was sustainable yield; ”which is the amount of a resource that can be extracted without undermining the natural system's core capacities to maintain or improve upon its full range of services.” He outlined and implemented solutions for sustainable resource use in some of the “New Deal” programs of the 30s.

In 1992 the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro 3 main principles of environmental sustainability.
(1) Rates of use of renewable resources must not exceed their rates of regeneration
(2) Rates of use of nonrenewable resources must not exceed the rate at which renewable substitutes can be developed
(3) Rates of pollution emission must not exceed the assimilative capacity of the environment

Sustainability is a concept that can be applied to so many things and creates a better world for us now and for our future. How does the concept of sustainability apply to the way you live your life, or what principals of sustainability should be implemented in our society?

The article that is quoted came from Opposing View Points and was tittled "Sustainability" and was originally from the Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy. Other Ideas were however indirectly from the AP Environmental Science textbook Living in the Environment. The Encyclopedia was updated in 2007 and is a very relevant and trustworthy source especially because it came from a database.