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"All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. His instincts prompt him to compete for his place in the community but his ethics prompt him also to co-operate (perhaps in order that there may be a place to compete for)."
Aldo Leopold
"No generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence."
Thomas Jefferson in a letter to James Madison 1789 "...you will observe with concern how long a useful truth may be known, and exist, before it is generally received and practiced on." Benjamin Franklin, 1786, commenting on the health dangers of lead paint If you are paying attention, you probably know that all living systems upon which our lives depend are in decline on this planet. Deep down we know that our children are paying the price. Many have already given up hope. We call this unsustainable. It doesn't have to be this way.If you are driving toward the edge of a cliff, slowing down will not solve your problem (although it might buy you some time). You must turn and go in a different direction. Sustainability demands turning and charting a new course that will improve the quality of our lives and the lives of our children while restoring the gift of natural systems upon which our lives depend. It is our turn. “... the limits are real and close, and… there is just exactly enough time, with no time to waste. There is just exactly enough energy, enough material, enough money, enough environmental resilience and enough human virtue to bring about a revolution of a better world.” Donella Meadows, Beyond the Limits “We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us… We must recover the sense of the majesty of the creation and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For it is only on the condition of humanity and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it.” Wendell Berry Educators for sustainability never begin a conversation by defining sustainability - we do not define it because that is not the best way to understand what we mean by it. Many great concepts/processes share this particular difficulty - grace and democracy among them. At The Cloud Institute we prefer educating for sustainability to talking about sustainability. Having said that, the following is a collection of definitions of sustainability. Send us yours. We will add it to our collection - if it improves it.
Definitions of Sustainability
"Improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting eco-systems."
—Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living. (Gland, Switzerland: 1991). (IUCN - The World Conservation Union, United Nations Environment Programme, World Wide Fund for Nature).
"Sustainability is 'long-term, cultural, economic and environmental health and vitality' with emphasis on long-term, 'together with the importance of linking our social, financial, and environmental well-being.'"
"Sustainability encompasses the simple principle of taking from the earth only what it can provide indefinitely, thus leaving future generations no less than we have access to ourselves."
"Sustainability may be described as our responsibility to proceed in a way that will sustain life that will allow our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to live comfortably in a friendly, clean, and healthy world."
"Sustainability is meeting the needs of all humans, being able to do so on a finite planet for generations to come while ensuring some degree of openness and flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances."
Jerry Sturmer, Santa Barbara South Coast Community Indicators
"Sustainability is a dynamic condition which requires a basic understanding of the interconnections and interdependency among ecological, economic and social systems. Sustainability means providing a rich quality of life for all, and accomplishing this within the means of nature."
Jaimie P. Cloud, Cloud Institute, www.cloudinstitute.org
"A sustainable society is one that is far-seeing enough, flexible enough, and wise enough not to undermine either its physical or its social systems of support."
Donella H. Meadows, et al., The Sustainability Institute, "Beyond the Limits"
"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future.
(Oxford, Great Britain: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 8. (Frequently referred to as the Brundtland Report after Gro Harlem Brundtland) "Sustainable Development is positive change which does not undermine the environmental or social systems on which we depend. It requires a coordinated approach to planning and policy making that involves public participation. Its success depends on widespread understanding of the critical relationship between people and their environment and the will to make necessary changes."
Hamilton Wentworth Regional Council "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." Paul Hawken, The Ecology of Commerce |
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