Beth,
Rather than rely on a single definition, I use a "sustainability test" that
some students find helpful. I'll paste the main part, below:
======================
The Sustainability Test
By Monty Hempel
This test promotes sustainability as a concept and practice that transcends
environmental stewardship. Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as
“environmental” sustainability; only sustainability—an irreducible synergy of
social justice, ecological health, and economic vitality, applied across
present and future generations. Although the health of our ecological life
support system is logically prior to and dominant among sustainability
imperatives, maintaining the health of ecosystems on a human-dominated planet
requires achievements in social welfare and economic vitality that are
imperatives in their own right, and not just for environmental protection.
Hence, sustainability should be embraced as a primary concept. It cannot be
reduced coherently to environmental, social, and economic components.
In practice, however, sustainability is often used as a “sponge word” that
absorbs multiple meanings and interpretations, many of which undermine its
integrative power. Increasingly, it is used to market products and programs
with dubious claims of efficacy or authenticity. How, then, can we determine
what is truly sustainable? And for whom?
To help in this endeavor, Blue Planet United has developed The Sustainability
Test for individuals and organizations who are trying to infuse sustainability
principles into their everyday actions and decisions. While only a starting
point, we invite you to try it and tell us what you think.
THE TEST
Does an action, behavior, proposed policy, or program:
General Objectives
- Advance the welfare of people and ecosystems, co-evolving through time?
- Provide economic vitality and security for those most in need?
- Stop the export of problems to other peoples, places, or times?
- Strike a balance between national pride, global citizenship, and local
self reliance (“glocal” thinking)?
- Reform financial incentive structures that enable greed, domination,
and exploitation?
- Promote just, participatory, prosperous, and peaceful institutions and
livelihoods?
- Reflect whole systems thinking and informed, democratic decision making?
- Redefine progress in ways that emphasize art and learning, over
technology?
- Help build a green economy that operates with efficiency, within a
culture of sufficiency?
- Restore damaged people, communities, cultures, and natural areas to
life with dignity?
- Avoid making byproducts, waste, or pollution that exceeds Nature’s
assimilative capacity?
- Encourage glocal connections and local solutions that harness the power
of diversity?
- Recognize the resilience, and limitations of resilience, in natural
systems?
- Recognize the resilience, and limitations of resilience, in human
social systems?
- Communicate knowledge, skills, and values necessary for a sustainable
way of life?
- Leave a legacy or bequest to future generations that helps us feel good
about ourselves?
- Create opportunities and values that help us discover the purpose of
our lives?
Specific Objectives
- Increase the earth’s tree cover and enlarge and strengthen protected
natural areas?
- Champion efforts to achieve equity in gender, race, and social
background?
- Help to voluntarily stabilize human population and promote small, happy
families?
- Aid development of wholesome food production systems at appropriate
scales for a stabilized population?
- Accelerate the transition to clean and renewable energy sources and
systems?
- Support the aims of living wage and progressive tax and tax shifting
reforms?
- Secure for future generations the opportunity to experience wildlife in
their native habitat?
- Conserve and provide access to fresh water, topsoil, and other
essential natural resources through land reform and protection of common
property?
- Reinvigorate participatory democracy through campaign finance reform
and fair redistricting?
- Encourage appropriate use of durable, recycled, and reusable materials?
- Defend coral reefs and contribute to the recovery of a healthy ocean?
- Prepare communities for adaptation to climate disruption and extreme
weather events?
- Maintain or enhance biodiversity and the value of unpriced ecosystem
services?
- Preserve wild space, open space, and the common heritage of outer space?
- Address the concentration of wealth and power in financial institutions
and industries that benefit greatly from unsustainable practices and products?
[sidebar]
Blue Planet United is a public-benefit, nonprofit organization that helps
people make connections between three defining issues of the twenty-first
century: sustain¬able consumption, population stabilization, and the
preservation of wild landscapes and seascapes. http://www.blueplanetunited.org
[endbar]
=======================
Cheers,
Monty
____________________________________
Lamont (Monty) Hempel, PhD
Hedco Professor and Director,
Center for Environmental Studies
University of Redlands
Redlands, CA 92373
Lewis Hall 140
TEL: 909.748.8589
E-MAIL: [email protected]
WEB: blueplanetunited.org
____________________________________
________________________________________
From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On Behalf Of Beth
DeSombre [[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 3:13 AM
To: GEP-Ed List
Subject: [gep-ed] seeking definitions of sustainability
For a new "introduction to sustainability" course I'm involved in, we're
seeking definitions of sustainability (which can include sustainable
development). On the first day of class (soon!) we want to look at the range of
different ways people define the term, which means we're seeking as wide a
variety of definitions as possible. (This is course co-taught with a business
school and an engineering school, so we're going for breadth.)
If you have/use/are aware of interesting/useful/problematic defintions of
sustainability and can pass them on to me, I'd be extremely grateful. You don't
have to *like* the definitions you send -- this is just starting material for a
broader exercise.
Thanks,
Beth
Elizabeth R. DeSombre
Director, Environmental Studies Program
Wellesley College
