What is Sustainability?
In 1983, the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainability as: "A way of living that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The web site Sustainability 101 puts it this way:
It is the commonsense notion that long-term prosperity and ecological health not only go together, they depend on one another. Sustainability means long-term cultural, ecologic and economic health and vitality. Or put another way, sustainability is about actions which are ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially just and humane.
And that’s what sustainability is: a concept that says that individuals, companies, governments and other organizations need to think about how the decisions they make and the actions they take every day affect what is called their "triple bottom line."
So what is this "triple bottom line?" In the past, when someone asked, "How would this decision affect our bottom line?" they were asking only about the financial impact. But the concept of sustainability says there are actually three bottoms lines to consider.
Economic - the financial impact on an individual’s income or spending, or on a company’s profits and losses Environmental - the impact on the air, water, land and global climate Social - the impact on an individual’s happiness, health and productivity, or the impact on the community’s welfare.
This can be a significant change in thinking. For businesses and other organizations, is a business approach that creates long term value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments or changes. That means integrating sustainability into their decision-making processes and paying attention to how their actions affect the environment and society around them, in addition to how they affect the organization financially. Many are finding tremendous benefits from the process - that giving consideration to the environment and society helps their financial bottom line and makes them more attractive to investors and employees.
For example: A company replaces the lighting fixtures in its corporate headquarters building with brighter, more energy-efficient ones. Because the new fixtures use less energy, the company saves money. But the benefits don’t stop there. As a result of the company’s actions, the local electric utility company generates less electricity and therefore emits less air pollution - that’s the environmental impact. And the brighter lighting fixtures create better working conditions for employees - that’s the social impact. It’s the triple bottom line at work.
For individuals, adopting sustainability into our personal lives means making decisions that not only make financial sense for us, but also respect the environment and the communities in which we live.
Here’s another example: When two co-workers decide to rideshare to work every day, they both save money on gasoline and car expenses. That’s their financial reward. Driving one car, instead of two, puts less exhaust into the air - the environmental impact. And it decreases traffic congestion on the freeway - the social impact. That’s the triple bottom line for us as individuals.
Finally, a word about what sustainability isn’t. When some people hear the word "sustainability," they immediately think it’s entirely about the environment - something that only "tree huggers" are interested in. Sustainability is being embraced by businesses, organizations, governments and individuals worldwide who want to succeed financially while helping protect the environment and improve the lives of others at the same time.
