Answer to Question #223461 in Physics for Jayla

Question

What did the word sustainability mean to you? What did "acting sustainability" require? What did you assume was being sustained and for whom?

Answer 1

Sustainability is the capacity to endure in a relatively ongoing way across various domains of life. Modern use of the term "sustainability" is broad and difficult to define precisely.

Originally, "sustainability" meant making only such use of natural, renewable resources that people can continue to rely on their yields in the long term.

Moving towards sustainability can involve social challenges that entail international and national law, urban planning and transport, supply-chain management, local and individual lifestyles and ethical consumerism. Ways of living more sustainably can take many forms, such as:

• reorganizing living conditions (e.g., ecovillages, eco-municipalities, and sustainable cities)
• reappraising economic sectors (permaculture, green building, sustainable agriculture) or work practices (sustainable architecture)
• using science to develop new technologies (green technologies, renewable energy and sustainable fission and fusion power)
• designing systems in a flexible and reversible manner
• adjusting individual lifestyles to conserve natural resources