ESS Vocab

Sustainability

Sustainability

Definitions of sustainability began with the idea that development should meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability to future generations to meet their needs. It refers to limiting the degree to which the current generation’s activities create harmful environmental outcomes involving resource depletion or degradation that will negatively affect future generations. Sustainability is increasingly important as planetary boundaries are pushed to the limits. Sustainability today has three integrated aspects: environmental, sociocultural (including political) and economic.

Natural Income

The yield obtained from natural resources

Natural capital

A term that includes all natural resources that can provide a sustainable income (carefully managed renewables) and those that are finite and can only produce an unsustainable yield

Environmental sustainability

Is the use and management of natural resources that allow replacement of the resources, recovery and regeneration of ecosystems

Social sustainability

Creating the structures that support human well-being, including health, education, equity, community and culture such as belief systems and language

Economic Sustainability

Creating economic structures to support production and consumption of goods and services that will support human needs into the future