Sustainability | Saving Earth | Encyclopedia Britannica

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›</span> </div> </a> </div> <div class="mega-column mega-feature"> <h4>Environmental Legislation</h4> <a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/50-years-us-environmental-legislation" class="megamenu-feature"> <div class="megamenu-thumb" style="background-image: url('https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/03/environmental-law-hero-300x300.jpg');"></div> <div class="megamenu-excerpt"> <h3>Environmental Legislation</h3> <p>The past 50 years encompass nearly all of the major milestones in U.S. environmental legislation. </p> <span>Learn More ›</span> </div> </a> </div> <div class="mega-column mega-feature"> <h4>Environmental Setbacks</h4> <a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/50-years-environmental-set-backs" class="megamenu-feature"> <div class="megamenu-thumb" style="background-image: url('https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/0000193963-hero-300x300.jpg');"></div> <div class="megamenu-excerpt"> <h3>Environmental Setbacks</h3> <p>Learn about the devastating environmental setbacks that have occurred over the last 50 years.</p> <span>Learn More ›</span> </div> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="megamenu-panel" id="megamenu-4"> <div class="container"> <div class="mega-column mega-feature"> <h4>Petroleum Fact or Fiction</h4> <a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/test-your-knowledge__trashed/petroleum-fact-or-fiction-quiz" class="megamenu-feature"> <div class="megamenu-thumb" style="background-image: url('https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/05/zbynek-burival-517983-unsplash-300x300.jpg');"></div> <div class="megamenu-excerpt"> <h3>Petroleum: Fact or Fiction Quiz</h3> <p>Rev up your mental engines and get your juices pumping in this high-octane petroleum 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Test your knowledge with this quiz.</p> <span>Start the Quiz</span> </div> </a> </div> <div class="mega-column mega-feature"> <h4>Biodiversity loss</h4> <a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/test-your-knowledge__trashed/biodiversity-loss-quiz" class="megamenu-feature"> <div class="megamenu-thumb" style="background-image: url('https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/BiodiversitylossQuizHero-300x300.jpg');"></div> <div class="megamenu-excerpt"> <h3>Biodiversity Loss Quiz</h3> <p>Do you know about the threats facing nonhuman life on Earth? Take this quiz to test your knowledge.</p> <span>Start the Quiz</span> </div> </a> </div> <div class="mega-column mega-feature"> <h4>Climate change</h4> <a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/test-your-knowledge__trashed/climate-change-quiz" class="megamenu-feature"> <div class="megamenu-thumb" style="background-image: url('https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/0000158166-ebind2795-0221-300x300.jpg');"></div> <div class="megamenu-excerpt"> <h3>Climate Change Quiz</h3> <p>Which gases play an important role in climate change? Test your knowledge of this "hot" topic with this quiz.</p> <span>Learn More ›</span> </div> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="megamenu-panel" id="megamenu-5"> <div class="container"> <div class="mega-column mega-feature"> <h4>Your Actions</h4> <a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/everyday-tips" class="megamenu-feature"> <div class="megamenu-thumb" style="background-image: url('https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/caspar-camille-rubin-37013-unsplash-300x300.jpg');"></div> <div class="megamenu-excerpt"> <h3>Everyday Environmental Tips</h3> <p>Your actions as an informed consumer have great power, and consumer-driven change is already happening.</p> <span>Learn More ›</span> </div> </a> </div> <div class="mega-column mega-feature"> <h4>Activists</h4> <a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/meet-the-activists" class="megamenu-feature"> <div class="megamenu-thumb" style="background-image: 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class="mega-column mega-feature"> <h4>Postcards from the 6th Mass Extinction </h4> <a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/postcards-from-the-6th-mass-extinction" class="megamenu-feature"> <div class="megamenu-thumb" style="background-image: url('https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/05/whale-1-300x300.jpg');"></div> <div class="megamenu-excerpt"> <h3>Postcards from the 6th Mass Extinction</h3> <p>Britannica Earth Scientist John Rafferty examines Earth’s current episode of mass extinction</p> <span>Listen now</span> </div> </a> </div> <div class="mega-column mega-feature"> <h4>Botanize</h4> <a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/botanize" class="megamenu-feature"> <div class="megamenu-thumb" style="background-image: url('https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/markus-spiske-104913-unsplash-300x300.jpg');"></div> <div class="megamenu-excerpt"> <h3>Botanize</h3> <p>Britannica botanist Melissa Petruzzello explores what keeps the world green… or not. </p> <span>Listen now</span> </div> </a> </div> <div class="mega-column mega-feature"> <h4>On-This-Day</h4> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/study/on-this-day-podcast" class="megamenu-feature"> <div class="megamenu-thumb" style="background-image: url('https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/11/ootdpd0001a4_150x150.jpg');"></div> <div class="megamenu-excerpt"> <h3>Listen to the Stories of the Day</h3> <span>Listen now</span> </div> </a> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> </header> <main class="main"> <article id="post-12"> <div class="hero"> <img width="3000" height="1170" src="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/03/sustainability-hero.jpg" class="hero-blurred wp-post-image" alt="" 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sizes="(max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px" /> </div> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="content col-12"> <h1 class="entry-title"><span>Sustainability</span></h1> <header class="entry-meta"> <a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/category/general-solution" class="cat-link"><span class="cat-icon"><img src="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/Earth-ToDo-List-icons_Solution.png" /></span><span class="cat-label">General Solution</span></a> <div class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_34 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/sustainability" data-a2a-title="Sustainability"><a class="a2a_button_facebook" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fexplore.britannica.com%2Fexplore%2Fsavingearth%2Fsustainability&linkname=Sustainability" title="Facebook" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fexplore.britannica.com%2Fexplore%2Fsavingearth%2Fsustainability&linkname=Sustainability" title="Twitter" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_linkedin" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/linkedin?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fexplore.britannica.com%2Fexplore%2Fsavingearth%2Fsustainability&linkname=Sustainability" title="LinkedIn" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_email" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fexplore.britannica.com%2Fexplore%2Fsavingearth%2Fsustainability&linkname=Sustainability" title="Email" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a></div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> <p class="has-drop-cap"><strong>Sustainability</strong>, the long-term viability of a community, set of social institutions, or societal practice. In general, sustainability is understood as a form of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/intergenerational-ethics">intergenerational ethics</a> in which the environmental and economic actions taken by present persons do not diminish the opportunities of future persons to enjoy similar levels of wealth, utility, or welfare.</p> <div class="ad-unit ad-leaderboard acf/ad-billboard" id="adunit-block_5cabaa507a169"> <div class="ad-wrapper">  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1554214027243-0' style='height:90px; width:728px;' class="none block-l"> <script>googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1554214027243-0'); });</script> </div> <div id='div-gpt-ad-1554214155739-0' style='height:50px; width:320px;' class="block none-l"> <script>googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1554214155739-0'); });</script> </div> </div> </div> <p>The idea of sustainability rose to prominence with the modern <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/environmentalism">environmental movement</a>, which rebuked the unsustainable character of contemporary societies where patterns of resource use, growth, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/consumption">consumption</a> threatened the integrity of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/ecosystem">ecosystems</a> and the well-being of future generations. Sustainability is presented as an alternative to short-term, myopic, and wasteful behaviours. It can serve as a standard against which existing institutions are to be judged and as an objective toward which society should move. Sustainability also implies an interrogation of existing modes of social organization to determine the extent to which they encourage destructive practices as well as a conscious effort to transform the status quo so as to promote the development of more-sustainable activities.</p> <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p> <br>Managing long-term environmental issues such as climate change and the loss of biodiversity is of critical importance to efforts to achieve sustainability. </p></blockquote></figure> <h2><strong>Forms of sustainability</strong></h2> <p>Sustainability is at the core of concepts such as sustainable yield, sustainable society, and sustainable development. The term <em>sustainable yield</em> refers to the harvest of a specific (self-renewing) natural resource—for example, timber or fish. Such a yield is one that can in principle be maintained indefinitely because it can be supported by the regenerative capacities of the underlying natural system. A sustainable society is one that has learned to live within the boundaries established by ecological limits. It can be maintained as a collective and ongoing entity because practices that imposed excessive burdens upon the environment have been reformed or abolished. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/sustainable-development">Sustainable development</a> is a process of social advancement that accommodates the needs of current and future generations and that successfully integrates economic, social, and environmental considerations in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/decision-making">decision making</a>.</p> <ul class="wp-container-2 wp-block-gallery-1 wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="682" src="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/0000143482-1024x682.jpg" alt="" data-id="1601" data-link="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/?attachment_id=1601" class="wp-image-1601" srcset="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/0000143482-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/0000143482-768x512.jpg 768w, https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/0000143482-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/0000143482-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Separate containers for various recyclable items and garbage. <br><em>Credit: © Eva Blanda/Fotolia</em></figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/03/0000156717-1024x683.jpg" alt="solar panels absorb solar energy a renewable energy source" data-id="1295" data-link="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/?attachment_id=1295" class="wp-image-1295" srcset="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/03/0000156717-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/03/0000156717-768x512.jpg 768w, https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/03/0000156717-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/03/0000156717-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Solar panels in a field in Granada, Spain. <br><em>Credit: © Vibe Images/Fotolia</em></figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/03/0000204212-1024x683.jpg" alt="wind turbines are a tools for renewable energy" data-id="1296" data-link="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/?attachment_id=1296" class="wp-image-1296" srcset="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/03/0000204212-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/03/0000204212-768x512.jpg 768w, https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/03/0000204212-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/03/0000204212-600x400.jpg 600w, https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/03/0000204212.jpg 1254w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Wind turbine farm. <br><em>Credit: ©thebroker/iStock.com</em></figcaption></figure></li></ul> <p>In contemporary debate, <em>sustainability</em> often serves as a synonym for <em>sustainable development</em>. On other occasions, it is associated more exclusively with environmental constraints or environmental performance, and the expression <em>environmental sustainability</em> is used to emphasize that point. Parallel references can be found to the terms <em>social sustainability</em>, <em>economic sustainability</em>, and <em>cultural sustainability</em>, which allude to threats to long-term well-being in each of those domains. <em>Local sustainability</em> emphasizes the importance of place. <em>Corporate sustainability</em> is another common usage, which relates both to the survivability of the individual corporation and to the contribution that corporations can make to the broader sustainability agenda. Central here is the notion of the so-called triple bottom line—that businesses should pay attention to social performance and environmental performance as well as to financial returns. The notion of corporate sustainability is also connected to debates about reforming <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/corporate-governance">corporate governance</a>, encouraging corporate responsibility, and designing alternative (sustainable, green, or ethical) investment vehicles.</p> <div class="ad-unit ad-leaderboard acf/ad-billboard" id="adunit-block_5cabaa4b7a168"> <div class="ad-wrapper">  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1554214053685-0' style='height:90px; width:728px;' class="none block-l"> <script>googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1554214053685-0'); });</script> </div> <div id='div-gpt-ad-1554214177985-0' style='height:50px; width:320px;' class="block none-l"> <script>googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1554214177985-0'); });</script> </div> </div> </div> <h2><strong>How to create a sustainable future</strong></h2> <p>While numerous practices are cited as threats to sustainability, such as political corruption, social inequality, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/arms-race">arms race</a>, and profligate government expenditures, environmental issues remain at the heart of the discussion. Of course, what is conducive to environmental sustainability remains a matter of intense debate. Approaches range from a moderate “greening” of current social institutions to a radical transformation of the global political and economic order. A gradual adjustment toward sustainability relies on governmental initiatives to orient production and <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consumption">consumption</a> into less environmentally destructive channels. That implies a reengineering of industrial and agricultural processes, a transformation of land-use practices, and a shift in household consumption. Potentially renewable resources should be managed to conserve their long-term viability; nonrenewable resources should be extracted at rates that allow an ordered transition to alternatives; emission of waste and toxic substances must remain within the assimilative capacities of natural systems; and more-vigorous measures must be taken to preserve species, habitats, and ecosystems. Managing long-term environmental issues such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/climate-change">climate change</a> and the loss of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/biodiversity">biodiversity</a> is of critical importance to efforts to achieve sustainability.</p> <p>Governments can deploy an array of policy tools to effect such changes, including <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/regulation">regulation</a>, fiscal instruments, negotiated agreements, and informational tools. Yet many problems resist solution because the offending (unsustainable) practices are often linked to deeply entrenched practices and constraints and supported by established definitions of values and interests.</p> <p>There are also a number of radical takes on sustainability. For some environmentalists, true sustainability is possible only in small-scale communities, where humans can live in close contact with natural processes and rhythms. According to that view, the catastrophic practices of industrial civilization must give way to a different mode of living where humans “walk lightly” on the planet, harmonizing their activities with natural cycles. While other radical environmentalists may accept a high-tech postindustrial civilization, for them too there must be a clear break with existing economic practices and power structures.<br></p> <h2><strong>Theorizing sustainability</strong></h2> <p>Discussion of sustainability within academia has ranged across many perspectives. Economic analysts have sometimes defined the concept in terms of nondeclining per capita income flows over time, or long-term <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/economic-growth">economic growth</a>, with minimal environmental impacts and debated how to maintain the capital endowments needed to sustain those income flows. Controversy over the substitutability of natural and human-made capital has divided proponents of weak and strong sustainability: the former argue that the two types of capital are largely interchangeable, whereas the latter insist that natural capital is increasingly the scarcest factor of production. In addition, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/ecosystem-services">ecosystem services</a>, such as the provision of clean water or crop pollination, are often undervalued aspects of natural capital that should be incorporated into economic discussions of sustainability.</p> <p>Ecologists and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/systems-theory">systems theorists</a> have tended to approach sustainability in terms of physical interdependencies, energy flows, and population dynamics. They have emphasized the design features that suit social systems for long-term survival, including robustness, resiliency, redundancy, and adaptability. For their part, political analysts have focused on the ideological and normative implications of sustainability, on the character of green political projects, and on the public policy implications.</p> <div class="ad-unit ad-leaderboard acf/ad-billboard" id="adunit-block_5cabaa3a7a167"> <div class="ad-wrapper">  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1554214079806-0' style='height:90px; width:728px;' class="none block-l"> <script>googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1554214079806-0'); });</script> </div> <div id='div-gpt-ad-1554214205116-0' style='height:50px; width:320px;' class="block none-l"> <script>googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1554214205116-0'); });</script> </div> </div> </div> <p><strong><em>Written by </em></strong><a href="https://www.britannica.com/contributor/James-Meadowcroft/9346795"><strong><em>James Meadowcroft</em></strong></a>, Professor, Canadian Research Chair in Governance for Sustainable Development, School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University.</p> <div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link" href="https://safe1.britannica.com/registrations2/signup.do?partnerCode=EBO_Women_USD">Like what you’re reading? Start your free trial today for unlimited access to Britannica.</a></div> <p><em>Top image credit: ©Greg Randles/Shutterstock.com</em></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <aside class="row"> <div class="col-12 col-2-3-m"> <div class="entry-related"> <h4 class="color-default">More Articles on General Solution</h4> <ul class="list-block list-rules"> <li> <img width="370" height="280" src="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/03/environmental-law-hero-370x280.jpg" class="attachment-list size-list wp-post-image" alt="environmental law-hero" loading="lazy" /> <div> <a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/environmental-law" title="Environmental Law">Environmental Law</a> <p>Environmental law is the field encompassing the principles, policies, directives, and regulations enacted and enforced by local, national, or international entities to regulate human treatment of the nonhuman world.</p> </div> </li> <li> <img width="370" height="280" src="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/0000193963-hero-370x280.jpg" class="attachment-list size-list wp-post-image" alt="Oil Spill" loading="lazy" /> <div> <a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/what-is-environmental-economics" title="What Is Environmental Economics?">What Is Environmental Economics?</a> <p>Environmental economics is a subdiscipline of economics that applies the values and tools of mainstream macroeconomics and microeconomics to allocate environmental resources more efficiently.</p> </div> </li> <li> <img width="370" height="280" src="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/0000092884-hero-370x280.jpg" class="attachment-list size-list wp-post-image" alt="" loading="lazy" /> <div> <a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/environmental-economics-place-value-on-the-environment" title="How Environmental Economics Places Value on the Environment">How Environmental Economics Places Value on the Environment</a> <p>Economists have long tried to accurately determine the value of environmental goods to society. </p> </div> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="col-12 col-1-3-m"> <div class="entry-categories"> <h4 class="color-default">All Categories</h4> <ul class="list-block list-rules"><li><a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/category/advocacy-for-animals" class="cat-link" alt="View all post filed under Advocacy for Animals"><span class="cat-icon"><img src="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/05/icon-animal.gif" /></span>Advocacy for Animals</a></li><li><a href="https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/category/biodiversity-loss" class="cat-link" alt="View all post filed under Biodiversity Loss"><span class="cat-icon"><img 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