Going Green | What is sustainability

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What is Sustainability?

When referred to as part of going green, a widely used definition of sustainability is the process of using the Earth's natural resources at a rate at which they can be replenished. A definition of sustainability found on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) web site is “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Which ever definition you use, it narrows down to the ability to maintain balance of a process or state of being.

In recent years, sustainability has been a growing issue as there has been mounting evidence that seems to indicate that we are using resources beyond sustainable limits.

As our cities grow, we clear more land for buildings and housing. That expansion tends to create a larger reliance on the surrounding countryside. In effort to find a balance, city planners have started looking at ways to minimize the requirements of power, water and other resources, while at the same time reducing wasteful and or harmful output.

There has been much progress in this area through the growing trend of designing sustainable buildings. Sustainable buildings attempt to minimize the environmental impact through efficient use of energy by using natural lighting, cooling and heating, as well as efficient use of space and building materials.

As much progress has been made with sustainable buildings, sustainability isn't limited to any one particular area of our society. In fact, the term sustainability is complex, broad and encompasses every form of life on Earth and all human activity.

Today, sustainability has found its way into almost every corporate business from Walmart to IBM and beyond. Within each of those corporate environments each has developed sustainable policies and procedures. Most policies and procedures identify indicators to which the business can identify successes or problem areas that need to be fixed. Essentially, sustainability requires an integrated view and requires indicators that shows links among economy, environment and society, and how each is interwoven.

Past practices and traditional business models that emphasized greater value on profit while ignoring waste, a large consumption of energy and contamination of the environment are no longer acceptable or justified. In fact, corporate sustainability highlights its obligations to their community and the environment.