Sustainability is the ability to endure and is made possible through strategies, policies, and/or practices. Through different strategies, policies, practices, or methods, the ability to sustain comes with the intent to improve efficiency through the use of minimal resources to produce or conduct something, to prolong its lifeline. In simple terms, sustainability is using as needed without compromising the needs of others or future generations (Lemonick). Most frequently, the term is tied to environmental issues. In that context, sustainability centers around water, food, energy, and other natural resources and the goal is to prevent or halt the depletion of natural resources. This could mean taking measures to preserve habitats, agricultural practices, address urban sprawl, and maintain our resources to prevent further environmental degradation (“What is Sustainability?”).
Sustainability doesn’t always mean maintaining things as they are. In the Pacific Islands, where land space is extremely limited, sustainability might mean keeping things the same and building seawalls to allow the people to remain where they are. However, sustainability also means resilience which is “the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and still retain its basic function and structure (Walker et al).” For nomadic tribes, sustainability might mean being able to adapt to their environments by being mobile and moving to new locations, which allows the environment to bounce back from its usage by the tribes without disrupting the overall function of its ecosystem.
No matter what lens is used to view the definition of sustainability, it can be agreed that sustainability is considerate of needs and limitations of both human and non-human organisms when it comes to development and the push for growth. Resilience is also a form of sustainability as it allows sociological ecosystems to recover from disturbances, without compromising its overall ability to function normally. To achieve sustainability, there is no one-size-fits-all approach and because of that, holistic approaches must be made that are unique to the environments they are set to protect by integrating science management and policy to enhance adaptability, embrace uncertainty, and manage risks (Curtin and Parker).
Works Cited
Farington, John, Kuhlman, Tom. “What Is Sustainability?” Sustainability 2.11 (2010): 3436-448. Web. 26 Nov. 2015.
Walker, Brian, Walker, B. H., and Salt, David Reid, Walter. Resilience Thinking: Sustaining
Ecosystems and People in a Changing World. Washington, DC, USA: Island, 2006. Web.
CURTIN, CHARLES G., and JESSICA P. PARKER. “Foundations of Resilience Thinking.” Conservation Biology 28.4 (2014): 912-923. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 July 2017.
Lemonick, Michael. “Top 10 Myths about Sustainability.” Scientific American 19.1s (2009): 40. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.
Spearman, Mindy, and Eckhoff, Angela. “Teaching Young Learners about Sustainability.” Childhood Education 88.6 (2012): 354-59. Web.
Jennifer Kim 