SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the ability to exist constantly. In the 21st
century, it refers generally to the capacity for the biosphere and
human civilization to coexist. It is also defined as the process
of people maintaining change in a homeostasis balanced
environment, in which the exploitation of resources, the
direction of investments, the orientation of technological
development and institutional change are all in harmony and
enhance both current and future potential to meet human
needs and aspirations.[1] For many in the field, sustainability is
defined through the following interconnected domains or
pillars: environment, economic and social,[2] which according
to Fritjof Capra[3] is based on the principles of Systems
Thinking. Sub-domains of sustainable development have been Achieving sustainability will enable
considered also: cultural, technological and political.[4][5] the Earth to continue supporting life.
According to Our Common Future, sustainable development is
defined as development that "meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs."[6][7] Sustainable development may be the
organizing principle of sustainability, yet others may view the
two terms as paradoxical (i.e., development is inherently
unsustainable).[8][9][10]
Sustainability can also be defined as a socio-ecological process

characterized by the pursuit of a common ideal.[11][12] An ideal
is by definition unattainable in a given time and space. Banaue rice terraces in the
However, by persistently and dynamically approaching it, the Philippines, a UNESCO World
process results in a sustainable system. [12] Many Heritage site.
environmentalists and ecologists argue that sustainability is
achieved through the balance of species and the resources
within their environment. As is typically practiced in natural resource management, the goal is to
maintain this equilibrium, available resources must not be depleted faster than resources are
naturally generated.
Modern use of the term sustainability is broad and difficult to define precisely.[13] Originally,
sustainability meant making only such use of natural, renewable resources that people can
continue to rely on their yields in the long term.[14] The concept of sustainability, or Nachhaltigkeit
in German, can be traced back to Hans Carl von Carlowitz (1645–1714), and was applied to
forestry.[15]
Healthy ecosystems and environments are necessary to the survival of humans and other
organisms. Ways of reducing negative human impact are environmentally-friendly chemical
engineering, environmental resources management and environmental protection. Information is
gained from green computing, green chemistry, earth science, environmental science and
conservation biology. Ecological economics studies the fields of academic research that aim to
address human economies and natural ecosystems.[16]
Moving towards sustainability is also a social challenge that entails international and national law,
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Sustainability - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability
urban planning and transport, supply chain management, local and individual lifestyles and ethical
consumerism. Ways of living more sustainably can take many forms from 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), or designing systems in a flexible and reversible manner,
[17][18] and adjusting individual lifestyles that conserve natural resources.[19]
In sum, "the term 'sustainability' should be viewed as humanity's target goal of human-ecosystem
equilibrium (homeostasis), while 'sustainable development' refers to the holistic approach and
temporal processes that lead us to the end point of sustainability."[20] Despite the increased
popularity of the use of the term "sustainability," the possibility that human societies will achieve
environmental sustainability has been, and continues to be, questioned—in light of environmental
degradation, climate change, overconsumption, population growth and societies' pursuit of
unlimited economic growth in a closed system.[21][22]
Contents
Etymology
Components
Three dimensions of sustainability
Circles of sustainability and the fourth dimension of sustainability
Seven modalities
Shaping the future
Resilience
History
Principles and concepts
Scale and context
Consumption
Circularity
Measurement
Population
Carrying capacity
Global human impact on biodiversity
Sustainable development goals
Sustainable development
Education for Sustainable Development
Environmental dimension
Environmental management
Management of human consumption
Economic dimension
Decoupling environmental degradation and economic growth
Nature as an economic externality
Economic opportunity
Market approach
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Ecosocialist approach
Social dimension
Peace, security, social justice
Poverty
Human relationship to nature
Human settlements
Human and labor rights
Cultural dimension
Tourism
Well-Being and sustainability
Religion and sustainability
Threats to sustainability
Solutions: paths to sustainability
By sector
See also
Topics
References
Sources
External links
Etymology
The name sustainability is derived from the Latin sustinere (tenere, to hold; sub, under). Sustain
can mean "maintain", "support", "uphold" or "endure".[23][24]
Components
Three dimensions of sustainability
The 2005 World Summit on Social Development identified sustainable development goals, such as
economic development, social development, and environmental protection.[26] This view has been
expressed as an illustration using three overlapping ellipses indicating that the three pillars of
sustainability are not mutually exclusive and can be mutually reinforcing.[27] In fact, the three
pillars are interdependent, and in the long run, none can exist without the others.[28] The three
pillars have served as a common ground for numerous sustainability standards and certification
systems in recent years, in particular in the food industry.[29][30] Standards which today explicitly
refer to the triple bottom line include Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade and UTZ Certified.[31][32] Some
sustainability experts and practitioners have illustrated four pillars of sustainability or a quadruple
bottom line. One such pillar is future generations, which emphasizes the long-term thinking
associated with sustainability. There is also an opinion that considers resource use and financial
sustainability as two additional pillars of sustainability.[33]
Sustainable development consists of balancing local and global efforts to meet basic human needs
without destroying or degrading the natural environment.[35][36] The question then becomes how
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to
Venn diagram of sustainable development:

at the confluence of three constituent parts[34]
represent the relationship between those needs and
A diagram indicating the relationship between
the environment.
the "three pillars of sustainability", in which
A study from 2005 pointed out that environmental both economy and society are constrained by
justice is as important as sustainable development.[37] environmental limits[25]
Ecological economist Herman Daly asked, "what use is
a sawmill without a forest?"[38] From this perspective,
the economy is a subsystem of human society, which is itself a subsystem of the biosphere, and a
gain in one sector is a loss from another.[39] This perspective led to the nested circles figure of
'economics' inside 'society' inside the 'environment'.
The simple definition that sustainability is something that improves "the quality of human life
while living within the carrying capacity of supporting eco-systems",[40] though vague, conveys the
idea of sustainability having quantifiable limits. But sustainability is also a call to action, a task in
progress or "journey" and therefore a political process, so some definitions set out common goals
and values.[41] The Earth Charter[42] speaks of "a sustainable global society founded on respect for
nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace". This suggested a more
complex figure of sustainability, which included the importance of the domain of 'politics'.
More than that, sustainability implies responsible and proactive decision-making and innovation
that minimizes negative impact and maintains balance between ecological resilience, economic
prosperity, political justice and cultural vibrancy to ensure a desirable planet for all species now
and in the future.[5] Specific types of sustainability include, sustainable agriculture, sustainable
architecture or ecological economics.[43] Understanding sustainable development is important but
without clear targets it remains an unfocused term like "liberty" or "justice".[44] It has also been
described as a "dialogue of values that challenge the sociology of development".[45]
Circles of sustainability and the fourth dimension of sustainability
While the United Nations Millennium Declaration identified principles and treaties on sustainable
development, including economic development, social development, and environmental
protection, it continued using three domains: economics, environment, and social sustainability.
More recently, using a systematic domain model that responds to the debates over the last decade,
the Circles of Sustainability approach distinguished four domains of economic, ecological, political
and cultural sustainability;[46] this in accord with the United Nations, Unesco, Agenda 21, and in
particular the Agenda 21 for culture which specifies culture as the fourth domain of sustainable
development.[47] The model is now being used by organizations such as the United Nations Cities
Programme[48] and Metropolis.[49] In the case of Metropolis, this approach does not mean adding
a fourth domain of culture to the dominant triple bottom line figure of the economy, environment
and the social. Rather, it involves treating all four domains—economy, ecology, politics, and
culture—as social (including economics) and distinguishing between ecology (as the intersection of
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the human and natural worlds) and the environment

as that which goes far beyond what we as humans can
ever know.[50]
Seven modalities
Another model suggests humans' attempt to achieve

all of their needs and aspirations via seven modalities:
economy, community, occupational groups,
government, environment, culture, and physiology.[51]
From the global to the individual human scale, each of
the seven modalities can be viewed across seven
hierarchical levels. Human sustainability can be
achieved by attaining sustainability in all levels of the
seven modalities.
Urban sustainability analysis of the greater
Shaping the future urban area of the city of São Paulo using the
‘Circles of Sustainability' method of the UN
Integral elements of sustainability are research and and Metropolis Association.[4]
innovation activities. A telling example is the
European environmental research and innovation
policy. It aims at defining and implementing a transformative agenda to greening the economy and
the society as a whole so to make them sustainable. Research and innovation in Europe are
financially supported by the programme Horizon 2020, which is also open to participation
worldwide.[52] Encouraging good farming practices ensures farmers fully benefit from the
environment and at the same time conserving it for future generations. Additionally, instigating
innovative and sustainable travel and transportation solutions must play a vital role in this process.
[53][54] During the 2019 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Activist
Rodrigo Ayala brought up a couple mechanisms to allow sustainability to become integrated into
society. The need to gather as a society to plant more trees in our backyards is necessary and
therefore a task for the next generation.
Resilience
Resilience in ecology is the capacity of an ecosystem to absorb disturbance and still retain its basic
structure and viability. Resilience-thinking evolved from the need to manage interactions between
human-constructed systems and natural ecosystems sustainably even though to policymakers a
definition remains elusive. Resilience-thinking addresses how much planetary ecological systems
can withstand assault from human disturbances and still deliver the service's current and future
generations need from them. It is also concerned with commitment from geopolitical policymakers
to promote and manage essential planetary ecological resources to promote resilience and achieve
sustainability of these essential resources for benefit of future generations of life.[55] The resiliency
of an ecosystem, and thereby, its sustainability, can be reasonably measured at junctures or events
where the combination of naturally occurring regenerative forces (solar energy, water, soil,
atmosphere, vegetation, and biomass) interact with the energy released into the ecosystem from
disturbances.[56] Yet, we must acknowledge the fact that resilience is reactive. Hence, the
importance to move beyond resilience and antifragility, namely, Tropophilia [57].
The most practical view of sustainability is in terms of efficiency [58]. In fact, efficiency equals
sustainability since zero efficiency (when possible) means zero waste. Another not so practical view
of sustainability is closed systems that maintain processes of productivity indefinitely by replacing
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resources used by actions of people with resources of equal or greater value by those same people
without degrading or endangering natural biotic systems.[59] In this way, sustainability can be
concretely measured in human projects if there is a transparent accounting of the resources put
back into the ecosystem to replace those displaced. In nature, the accounting occurs naturally
through a process of adaptation as an ecosystem returns to viability from an external disturbance.
The adaptation is a multi-stage process that begins with the disturbance event (earthquake,
volcanic eruption, hurricane, tornado, flood, or thunderstorm), followed by absorption, utilization,
or deflection of the energy or energies that the external forces created.[60][61]
In analysing systems such as urban and national parks, dams, farms and gardens, theme parks,
open-pit mines, water catchments, one way to look at the relationship between sustainability and
resiliency is to view the former with a long-term vision and resiliency as the capacity of human
engineers to respond to immediate environmental events.[62]
History
The name sustainability is derived from the Latin sustinere (tenere, to hold; sub, under). Sustain
can mean "maintain," "support," "uphold," or "endure".[22][23] The history of sustainability traces
human-dominated ecological systems from the earliest civilizations to the present day.[63] This
history is characterized by the increased regional success of a particular society, followed by crises
that were either resolved, producing sustainability, or not, leading to decline.[64][65]
In early human history, the use of fire and desire for specific foods may have altered the natural
composition of plant and animal communities.[66] Between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago, agrarian
communities emerged which depended largely on their environment and the creation of a
"structure of permanence."[67]
The Western industrial revolution of the 18th to 19th centuries tapped into the vast growth
potential of the energy in fossil fuels. Coal was used to power ever more efficient engines and later
to generate electricity. Modern sanitation systems and advances in medicine protected large
populations from disease.[68] In the mid-20th century, a gathering environmental movement
pointed out that there were environmental costs associated with the many material benefits that
were now being enjoyed. In the late 20th century, environmental problems became global in scale.
[69][70][71][72][73] The 1973 and 1979 energy crises demonstrated the extent to which the global
community had become dependent on non-renewable energy resources.
In the 1970s, the ecological footprint of humanity exceeded the carrying capacity of earth, therefore
the mode of life of humanity became unsustainable.[74]
In the 21st century, there is increasing global awareness of the threat posed by the human
greenhouse effect, produced largely by forest clearing and the burning of fossil fuels.[75][76]
There are at least three letters from the scientific community about the growing threat to
Sustainability and ways to remove the threat.
In 1992, scientists wrote the first World Scientists' Warning to Humanity, which begins: "Human
beings and the natural world are on a collision course." About 1,700 of the world's leading
scientists including most of the Nobel Prize laureates in the sciences signed it. The letter
mentions severe damage to atmosphere, oceans, ecosystems, soil productivity, and more. It
warns humanity that life on earth as we know it can become impossible, and if humanity wants
to prevent the damage, some steps need to be taken: better use of resources, abandon of
fossil fuels, stabilization of human population, elimination of poverty and more.[77]
In 2017, the scientists wrote a second warning to humanity. In this warning, the scientists
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mention some positive trends like slowing deforestation, but despite this, they claim that except
ozone depletion, none of the problems mentioned in the first warning received an adequate
response. The scientists called to reduce the use of fossil fuels, meat, and other resources and
to stabilize the population. It was signed by 15,364 scientists from 184 countries, making it the
letter with the most scientist signatures in history.[78]
In November 2019, more than 11,000 scientists from 153 countries published a letter in which
they warn about serious threats to sustainability from climate change if big changes in policies
will not happen. The scientists declared "climate emergency" and called to stop
overconsumption, move away from fossil fuels, eat less meat, stabilize the population, and
more.[79]
Principles and concepts

The philosophical and analytic framework of sustainability draws on and connects with many
different disciplines and fields; in recent years an area that has come to be called sustainability
science has emerged.[80]
Scale and context
Sustainability is studied and managed over many scales (levels or frames of reference) of time and
space and in many contexts of environmental, social, and economic organizations. The focus
ranges from the total carrying capacity (sustainability) of planet Earth to the sustainability of
economic sectors, ecosystems, countries, municipalities, neighborhood, home gardens, individual
lives, individual goods, and services this includes the use of natural resources prudently to meet
current needs without affecting the ability of the future generation from meeting their needs. ,
occupations, lifestyles, and behavior patterns. In short, it can entail the full compass of biological
and human activity or any part of it.[81] As Daniel Botkin, author and environmentalist, has stated:
"We see a landscape that is always in flux, changing over many scales of time and space."[82]
The sheer size and complexity of the planetary ecosystem has proven problematic for the design of
practical measures to reach global sustainability. To shed light on the big picture, explorer and
sustainability campaigner Jason Lewis has drawn parallels to other, more tangible closed systems.
For example, he likens human existence on Earth — isolated as the planet is in space, whereby
people cannot be evacuated to relieve population pressure and resources cannot be imported to
prevent accelerated depletion of resources — to life at sea on a small boat isolated by water. In both
cases, he argues, exercising the precautionary principle is a key factor in survival.[83]
Consumption
A major driver of human impact on Earth systems is the

destruction of biophysical resources, and especially, the Earth's
ecosystems. The environmental impact of a community or
humankind as a whole depends both on population and impact
per person, which in turn depends in complex ways on what
resources are being used, whether or not those resources are
renewable, and the scale of the human activity relative to the
carrying capacity of the ecosystems involved. Careful resource Waste generation, measured in
management can be applied at many scales, from economic kilograms per person per day
sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, and industry, to work
organizations, the consumption patterns of households and
individuals and to the resource demands of individual goods and services.[84][85]
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One of the initial attempts to express human impact mathematically was developed in the 1970s
and is called the I PAT formula. This formulation attempts to explain human consumption in terms
of three components: population numbers, levels of consumption (which it terms "affluence",
although the usage is different), and impact per unit of resource use (which is termed "technology",
because this impact depends on the technology used). The equation is expressed:
I=P×A×T
Where: I = Environmental impact, P = Population, A = Affluence, T =

Technology[86]
According to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, human consumption, with current policy, by the
year 2100 should be 7 times bigger than in the year 2010.[87]
Circularity
In recent years, concepts based on (re-)cycling resources are increasingly gaining importance. The
most prominent among these concepts might be the Circular economy, with its comprehensive
support by the Chinese and the European Union. There is also a broad range of similar concepts or
schools of thought, including cradle-to-cradle laws of ecology, looped and performance economy,
regenerative design, industrial ecology, biomimicry, and the blue economy. These concepts seem
intuitively to be more sustainable than the current linear economic system. The reduction of
resource inputs into and waste and emission leakage out of the system reduces resource depletion
and environmental pollution. However, these simple assumptions are not sufficient to deal with the
involved systemic complexity and disregards potential trade-offs. For example, the social
dimension of sustainability seems to be only marginally addressed in many publications on the
Circular Economy, and some cases require different or additional strategies, such as purchasing
new, more energy-efficient equipment. A review of a team of researchers from Cambridge and TU
Delft identified eight different relationship types between sustainability and the circular economy,
namely:[88]
a conditional relation
a strong conditional relation
a necessary but not sufficient conditional relation
a beneficial relationship
a (structured and unstructured) subset relation
a degree relation
a cost-benefit/trade-off relation
a selective relation
Measurement
Sustainability measurement is the quantitative basis for the informed management of
sustainability.[89] The metrics used for the measurement of sustainability (involving the
sustainability of environmental, social and economic domains, both individually and in various
combinations) are evolving: they include indicators, benchmarks, audits, sustainability standards
and certification systems like Fairtrade and Organic, indexes and accounting, as well as
assessment, appraisal[90] and other reporting systems. They are applied over a wide range of
spatial and temporal scales.[91][92]
Some of the best known and most widely used sustainability measures include corporate
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sustainability reporting, Triple Bottom Line accounting, World Sustainability Society, Circles of
Sustainability, and estimates of the quality of sustainability governance for individual countries
using the Environmental Sustainability Index and Environmental Performance Index.
Two of the most known ways to measure environmental sustainability is Planetary boundaries[93]
and Ecological footprint.[94] If the boundaries are not crossed and the ecological footprint is not
exceeding the carrying capacity of the biosphere, the mode of life of humanity is sustainable.
Population
According to the most recent (July 2015) revision of

the official United Nations World Population
Prospects, the world population is projected to reach
8.5 billion by 2030, up from the current 7.3 billion
(July 2015), to exceed 9 billion people by 2050, and to
reach 11.2 billion by the year 2100.[95] Most of the
increase will be in developing countries whose
population is projected to rise from 5.6 billion in 2009
to 7.9 billion in 2050. This increase will be distributed
among the population aged 15–59 (1.2 billion) and 60 Graph showing human population growth from
or over (1.1 billion) because the number of children 10,000 BC – 2000 AD, illustrating current
under age 15 in developing countries is predicted to exponential growth
decrease. In contrast, the population of the more
developed regions is expected to undergo only slight
increase from 1.23 billion to 1.28 billion, and this
would have declined to 1.15 billion but for a projected
net migration from developing to developed countries,
which is expected to average 2.4 million persons
annually from 2009 to 2050.[96] Long-term estimates
in 2004 of global population suggest a peak at around
2070 of nine to ten billion people, and then a slow
decrease to 8.4 billion by 2100.[97]
Emerging economies like those of China and India

aspire to the living standards of the Western world, as
does the non-industrialized world in general.[98] It is World population growth rate, 1950–2050, as
the combination of population increase in the estimated in 2011 by the U.S. Census Bureau,
developing world and unsustainable consumption International Data Base. Although the rate of
levels in the developed world that poses a stark growth decreases, population continues to
challenge to sustainability.[99] rise. In 2050 still growing by over 45 million
per year
Carrying capacity
At the global scale, scientific data now indicates that humans are living beyond the carrying
capacity of planet Earth and that this cannot continue indefinitely. This scientific evidence comes
from many sources but is presented in detail in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the
planetary boundaries framework.[100] An early detailed examination of global limits was published
in the 1972 book Limits to Growth, which has prompted follow-up commentary and analysis.[101] A
2012 review in Nature by 22 international researchers expressed concerns that the Earth may be
"approaching a state shift" in its biosphere.[102]
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The ecological footprint measures human

consumption in terms of the biologically productive
land and sea area needed to provide for all the
competing demands on nature, including the
provision of food, fiber, the accommodation of urban
infrastructure and the absorption of waste, including
carbon from burning fossil fuel. In 2019, it required on
average 2.8 global hectares per person worldwide, 75%
more than the biological capacity of 1.6 global hectares
available on this planet per person (this space includes
the space needed for wild species).[71] The resulting Ecological footprint for different nations
compared to their Human Development Index
ecological deficit must be met from unsustainable
(HDI)
extra sources and these are obtained in three ways:
embedded in the goods and services of world trade;
taken from the past (e.g. fossil fuels); or borrowed
from the future as unsustainable resource usage (e.g. by over exploiting forests and fisheries).
The figure (right) examines sustainability at the scale of individual countries by contrasting their
Ecological Footprint with their UN Human Development Index (a measure of standard of living).
The graph shows what is necessary for countries to maintain an acceptable standard of living for
their citizens while, at the same time, maintaining sustainable resource use. The general trend is
for higher standards of living to become less sustainable. As always, population growth has a
marked influence on levels of consumption and the efficiency of resource use.[86][103] The
sustainability goal is to raise the global standard of living without increasing the use of resources
beyond globally sustainable levels; that is, to not exceed "one planet" consumption. The
information generated by reports at the national, regional and city scales confirm the global trend
towards societies that are becoming less sustainable over time.[70][104]
Romanian American economist Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, a progenitor in economics and a

paradigm founder of ecological economics, has argued that the carrying capacity of Earth — that is,
Earth's capacity to sustain human populations and consumption levels — is bound to decrease
sometime in the future as Earth's finite stock of mineral resources is presently being extracted and
put to use.[105]:303 Leading ecological economist and steady-state theorist Herman Daly, a student
of Georgescu-Roegen, has propounded the same argument.[106]:369–371
At the enterprise scale, carrying capacity now also plays a critical role in making it possible to
measure and report the sustainability performance of individual organizations. This is most clearly
demonstrated through use of Context-Based Sustainability (CBS) tools, methods and metrics,
including the MultiCapital Scorecard, which have been in development since 2005.[107][108]
Contrary to many other mainstream approaches to measuring the sustainability performance of
organizations – which tend to be more incrementalist in form – CBS is explicitly tied to social,
environmental and economic limits and thresholds in the world. Thus, rather than simply measure
and report changes in relative terms from one period to another, CBS makes it possible to compare
the impacts of organizations to organization-specific norms, standards or thresholds for what they
(the impacts) would have to be in order to be empirically sustainable (i.e., which if generalized to a
larger population would not fail to maintain the sufficiency of vital resources for human or non-
human well-being).[109][110]
Global human impact on biodiversity
At a fundamental level, energy flow and biogeochemical cycling set an upper limit on the number
and mass of organisms in any ecosystem.[111] Human impacts on the Earth are demonstrated in a
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general way through detrimental changes in the global

biogeochemical cycles of chemicals that are critical to life, most
notably those of water, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and
phosphorus.[112]
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is an international

synthesis by over 1000 of the world's leading biological
scientists that analyzes the state of the Earth's ecosystems and
provides summaries and guidelines for decision-makers. It
Deforestation of the Amazon
concludes that human activity is having a significant and
rainforest in Brazil, 2016
escalating impact on the biodiversity of the world ecosystems,
reducing both their resilience and biocapacity. The report
refers to natural systems as humanity's "life-support system",
providing essential "ecosystem services". The assessment measures 24 ecosystem services and
concludes that only four have shown improvement over the last 50 years, 15 are in serious decline,
and five are in a precarious condition.[113]
In 2019, a summary for policymakers of the largest, most comprehensive study to date of
biodiversity and ecosystem services was published by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy
Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The report was finalized in Paris. The main
conclusions:
1. Over the last 50 years, the state of nature has deteriorated at an unprecedented and accelerating
rate.
2. The main drivers of this deterioration have been changes in land and sea use, exploitation of
living beings, climate change, pollution, and invasive species. These five drivers, in turn, are caused
by societal behaviors, from consumption to governance.
3. Damage to ecosystems undermines 35 of 44 selected UN targets, including the UN General

Assembly's Sustainable Development Goals for poverty, hunger, health, water, cities' climate,
oceans, and land. It can cause problems with food, water and humanity's air supply.
4. To fix the problem, humanity will need a transformative change, including sustainable
agriculture, reductions in consumption and waste, fishing quotas and collaborative water
management.[114][115]
In 2019, research was published showing that insects are destroyed by human activities like habitat
destruction, pesticide poisoning, invasive species and climate change at a rate that will cause the
collapse of ecological systems in the next 50 years if it cannot be stopped.[116]
Sustainable development goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the United Nations General Assembly's current
harmonized set of seventeen future international development targets.
The Official Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted on 25 September 2015 has 92
paragraphs, with the main paragraph (51) outlining the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and its
associated 169 targets. This included the following seventeen goals:[117]
1. Poverty – End poverty in all its forms everywhere[118]

2. Food – End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable
agriculture[119]
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3. Health – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages[120]
4. Education – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all[121]
5. Women – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls[122]
6. Water – Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all[123]
7. Energy – Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all[124]
8. Economy – Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and
productive employment and decent work for all[125]
9. Infrastructure – Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization
and foster innovation[126]
10. Inequality – Reduce inequality within and among countries[127]
11. Habitation – Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable[128]
12. Consumption – Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns[129]
13. Climate – Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, ensuring that both
mitigation and adaptation strategies are in place[130]
14. Marine-ecosystems – Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
for sustainable development[131]
15. Ecosystems – Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems,
sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and
halt biodiversity loss[132]
16. Institutions – Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide
access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all
levels[133]
17. Sustainability – Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership
for sustainable development[134]
As of August 2015, there were 169 proposed targets for these goals and 304 proposed indicators to
show compliance.[135]
The Sustainable Development Goals replace the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),
which expired at the end of 2015. The MDGs were established in 2000 following the Millennium
Summit of the United Nations. Adopted by the 189 United Nations member states at the time and
more than twenty international organizations, these goals were advanced to help achieve the
following sustainable development standards by 2015.
1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2. To achieve universal primary education
3. To promote gender equality and empower women
4. To reduce child mortality
5. To improve maternal health
6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. To ensure environmental sustainability (one of the targets in this goal focuses on increasing
sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation)
8. To develop a global partnership for development
According to the data that member countries represented to the United Nations, Cuba was the only
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country in the world in 2006 that met the World Wide Fund for Nature's definition of sustainable
development, with an ecological footprint of less than 1.8 hectares per capita, 1.5, and a Human
Development Index of over 0.8, 0.855.[136][137]
Education for Sustainable Development
Education for sustainable development (ESD) is commonly understood as education that

encourages changes in knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes to enable a more sustainable and
just society for all. ESD aims to empower and equip current and future generations to meet their
needs using a balanced and integrated approach to the economic, social and environmental
dimensions of sustainable development.
The concept of ESD was born from the need for education to address the growing environmental
challenges facing the planet. Education should c Sustainability in higher education is not only
limited to embedding intended learning outcomes about sustainable development into the
curriculum of higher educational institutions. However, a sustainable campus should integrate the
educational and managerial aspects of the sustainable development along with its three dimensions
(environmental, economical, social responsibility) into its different practices.[138]
Environmental dimension
Healthy ecosystems provide vital goods and services to humans and other organisms. There are
two major ways of reducing negative human impact and enhancing ecosystem services and the first
of these is environmental management. This direct approach is based largely on information
gained from earth science, environmental science and conservation biology. However, this is
management at the end of a long series of indirect causal factors that are initiated by human
consumption, so a second approach is through demand management of human resource use.
Management of human consumption of resources is an indirect approach based largely on

information gained from economics. Herman Daly has suggested three broad criteria for ecological
sustainability: renewable resources should provide a sustainable yield (the rate of harvest should
not exceed the rate of regeneration); for non-renewable resources there should be equivalent
development of renewable substitutes; waste generation should not exceed the assimilative
capacity of the environment.[139]
Environmental management
At the global scale and in the broadest sense environmental management involves the oceans,
freshwater systems, land and atmosphere, but following the sustainability principle of scale it can
be equally applied to any ecosystem from a tropical rainforest to a home garden.[140][141] In 2019, 2
weeks before the elections to the European Parliament, the World Wide Fund for Nature stated
that the European Union is unsustainable in his current mode of life and economy and asked him
to fix it by "Shift to sustainable consumption and food systems, make Europe climate-neutral by
2040, restore our Nature, protect the Ocean, invest in a sustainable future"[142]
Atmosphere
At a March 2009 meeting of the Copenhagen Climate Council, 2,500 climate experts from 80
countries issued a keynote statement that there is now "no excuse" for failing to act on global
warming and that without strong carbon reduction "abrupt or irreversible" shifts in climate may
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occur that "will be very difficult for contemporary societies to cope with".[143][144] Management of
the global atmosphere now involves assessment of all aspects of the carbon cycle to identify
opportunities to address human-induced climate change and this has become a major focus of
scientific research because of the potential catastrophic effects on biodiversity and human
communities (see Energy below).
Other human impacts on the atmosphere include the air pollution in cities, the pollutants including
toxic chemicals like nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, volatile organic compounds and airborne
particulate matter that produce photochemical smog and acid rain, and the chlorofluorocarbons
that degrade the ozone layer. Anthropogenic particulates such as sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere
reduce the direct irradiance and reflectance (albedo) of the Earth's surface. Known as global
dimming, the decrease is estimated to have been about 4% between 1960 and 1990 although the
trend has subsequently reversed. Global dimming may have disturbed the global water cycle by
reducing evaporation and rainfall in some areas. It also creates a cooling effect and this may have
partially masked the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming.[145]
Reforestation is one of the ways to stop desertification fueled by anthropogenic climate change and
non-sustainable land use. One of the most important projects is the Great Green Wall that should
stop the expansion of Sahara desert to the south. By 2018 only 15% of it is accomplished, but there
are already many positive effects, which include: "Over 12 million acres (5 million hectares) of
degraded land has been restored in Nigeria; roughly 30 million acres of drought-resistant trees
have been planted across Senegal; and a whopping 37 million acres of land has been restored in
Ethiopia – just to name a few of the states involved." "many groundwater wells refilled with
drinking water, rural towns with additional food supplies, and new sources of work and income for
villagers, thanks to the need for tree maintenance".[146][147][148]
Freshwater and oceans
Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface. Of this, 97.5% is the

salty water of the oceans and only 2.5% freshwater, most of
which is locked up in the Antarctic ice sheet. The remaining
freshwater is found in glaciers, lakes, rivers, wetlands, the soil,
aquifers, and atmosphere. Due to the water cycle, freshwater
supply is continually replenished by precipitation, however,
there is still a limited amount necessitating the management of
this resource. Awareness of the global importance of
preserving water for ecosystem services has only recently
emerged as, during the 20th century, more than half the Changes in environmental
world's wetlands have been lost along with their valuable conditions lead to coral bleaching
environmental services. Increasing urbanization pollutes clean and harm to biodiversity of fragile
water supplies and much of the world still do not have access marine ecosystems.
to clean, safe water.[149] Greater emphasis is now being placed
on the improved management of blue (harvestable) and green
(soil water available for plant use) water, and this applies at all scales of water management.[150]
Ocean circulation patterns have a strong influence on climate and weather and, in turn, the food
supply of both humans and other organisms. Scientists have warned of the possibility, under the
influence of climate change, of a sudden alteration in circulation patterns of ocean currents that
could drastically alter the climate in some regions of the globe.[151] Ten per cent of the world's
population—about 600 million people—live in low-lying areas vulnerable to sea-level rise.
Land use
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Loss of biodiversity stems largely from the habitat loss and

fragmentation produced by the human appropriation of land
for development, forestry and agriculture as natural capital is
progressively converted to man-made capital. Land use change
is fundamental to the operations of the biosphere because
alterations in the relative proportions of land dedicated to
urbanisation, agriculture, forest, woodland, grassland and
pasture have a marked effect on the global water, carbon and
nitrogen biogeochemical cycles and this can impact negatively
on both natural and human systems.[152] At the local human
scale, major sustainability benefits accrue from sustainable
parks and gardens and green cities.[153][154] A rice paddy in Bangladesh. Rice,
wheat, corn, and potatoes make up
Since the Neolithic Revolution about 47% of the world's forests more than half the world's food
have been lost to human use. Present-day forests occupy about supply.
a quarter of the world's ice-free land with about half of these
occurring in the tropics.[155] In temperate and boreal regions
forest area is gradually increasing (except for Siberia), but deforestation in the tropics is of major
concern.[156] According to a study published in Nature Scientific Reports if deforestation continue
in current rate in the next 20 - 40 years, it can trigger a full or almost full extinction of humanity.
To avoid it humanity should pass from a civilization dominated by the economy to "cultural
society" that "privileges the interest of the ecosystem above the individual interest of its
components, but eventually in accordance with the overall communal interest"[157]
Food is essential to life. Feeding more than seven billion human bodies takes a heavy toll on the
Earth's resources. This begins with the appropriation of about 38% of the Earth's land surface[158]
and about 20% of its net primary productivity.[159] Added to this are the resource-hungry activities
of industrial agribusiness—everything from the crop need for irrigation water, synthetic fertilizers
and pesticides to the resource costs of food packaging, transport (now a major part of global trade)
and retail. Environmental problems associated with industrial agriculture and agribusiness are
now being addressed through such movements as sustainable agriculture, organic farming and
more sustainable business practices.[160]
Management of human consumption
The underlying driver of direct human impacts on the environment is human consumption.[161]
This impact is reduced by not only consuming less but also making the full cycle of production, use,
and disposal more sustainable. Consumption of goods and services can be analyzed and managed
at all scales through the chain of consumption, starting with the effects of individual lifestyle
choices and spending patterns, through to the resource demands of specific goods and services, the
impacts of economic sectors, through national economies to the global economy.[162] Analysis of
consumption patterns relates resource use to the environmental, social and economic impacts at
the scale or context under investigation. The ideas of embodied resource use (the total resources
needed to produce a product or service), resource intensity, and resource productivity are
important tools for understanding the impacts of consumption. Key resource categories relating to
human needs are food, energy, materials and water.
In 2010, the International Resource Panel, hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), published the first global scientific assessment on the impacts of consumption and
production[163] and identified priority actions for developed and developing countries. The study
found that the most critical impacts are related to ecosystem health, human health and resource
depletion. From a production perspective, it found that fossil-fuel combustion processes,
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agriculture and fisheries have the most

important impacts. Meanwhile, from a
final consumption perspective, it
found that household consumption
related to mobility, shelter, food, and
energy-using products causes the
majority of life-cycle impacts of
consumption.
Energy
The Sun's energy, stored by plants

(primary producers) during
photosynthesis, passes through the
food chain to other organisms to
ultimately power all living processes.
Since the industrial revolution the
Helix of sustainability—the carbon cycle of manufacturing
concentrated energy of the Sun stored
in fossilized plants as fossil fuels has
been a major driver of technology
which, in turn, has been the source of both economic
and political power. In 2007 climate scientists of the
IPCC concluded that there was at least a 90%
probability that atmospheric increase in CO2 was
human-induced, mostly as a result of fossil fuel
emissions but, to a lesser extent from changes in land
use. Stabilizing the world's climate will require high-
income countries to reduce their emissions by
60–90% over 2006 levels by 2050 which should hold
CO2 levels at 450–650 ppm from current levels of
about 380 ppm. Above this level, temperatures could
Flow of CO2 in an ecosystem
rise by more than 2 °C to produce "catastrophic"
climate change.[164][165] Reduction of current CO2
levels must be achieved against a background of global
population increase and developing countries aspiring to energy-intensive high consumption
Western lifestyles.[166]
Reducing greenhouse emissions, is being tackled at all scales, ranging from tracking the passage of
carbon through the carbon cycle[167] to the commercialization of renewable energy, developing less
carbon-hungry technology and transport systems and attempts by individuals to lead carbon-
neutral lifestyles by monitoring the fossil fuel use embodied in all the goods and services they
use.[168][169] Engineering of emerging technologies such as carbon-neutral fuel[170][171][172] and
energy storage systems such as power to gas, compressed air energy storage,[173][174] and pumped-
storage hydroelectricity[175][176][177] are necessary to store power from transient renewable energy
sources including emerging renewables such as airborne wind turbines.[178]
Renewable energy also has some environmental impacts. They are presented by the proponents of
theories like Degrowth, Steady-state economy and Circular economy as one of the proofs that for
achieving sustainability technological methods are not enough and there is a need to limit
consumption[179][180]
Water
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Water security and food security are inextricably linked. In the decade 1951–60 human water
withdrawals were four times greater than the previous decade. This rapid increase resulted from
scientific and technological developments impacting through the economy—especially the increase
in irrigated land, growth in industrial and power sectors, and intensive dam construction on all
continents. This altered the water cycle of rivers and lakes, affected their water quality and had a
significant impact on the global water cycle.[181] Currently towards 35% of human water use is
unsustainable, drawing on diminishing aquifers and reducing the flows of major rivers: this
percentage is likely to increase if climate change impacts become more severe, populations
increase, aquifers become progressively depleted and supplies become polluted and
unsanitary.[182] From 1961 to 2001 water demand doubled—agricultural use increased by 75%,
industrial use by more than 200%, and domestic use more than 400%.[183] In the 1990s it was
estimated that humans were using 40–50% of the globally available freshwater in the approximate
proportion of 70% for agriculture, 22% for industry, and 8% for domestic purposes with total use
progressively increasing.[181]
Water efficiency is being improved on a global scale by increased demand management, improved
infrastructure, improved water productivity of agriculture, minimising the water intensity
(embodied water) of goods and services, addressing shortages in the non-industrialized world,
concentrating food production in areas of high productivity, and planning for climate change, such
as through flexible system design. A promising direction towards sustainable development is to
design systems that are flexible and reversible.[17][18] At the local level, people are becoming more
self-sufficient by harvesting rainwater and reducing use of mains water.[150][184]
Food
The American Public Health Association (APHA) defines a

"sustainable food system"[185][186] as "one that provides
healthy food to meet current food needs while maintaining
healthy ecosystems that can also provide food for generations
to come with minimal negative impact to the environment. A
sustainable food system also encourages local production and
distribution infrastructures and makes nutritious food
available, accessible, and affordable to all. Further, it is
humane and just, protecting farmers and other workers,
consumers, and communities."[187] Feijoada — A typical black bean
food dish from Brazil
Industrial agriculture cause environmental impacts, health
problem associated with obesity in the rich world and hunger
in the poor world. This has generated a strong movement towards healthy, sustainable eating as a
major component of overall ethical consumerism.[188][189]
The environmental effects of different dietary patterns depend on many factors, including the
proportion of animal and plant foods consumed and the method of food production.[190][191]
[192][193] The World Health Organization has published a Global Strategy on Diet, Physical
Activity and Health report which was endorsed by the May 2004 World Health Assembly. It
recommends the Mediterranean diet which is associated with health and longevity and is low in
meat, rich in fruits and vegetables, low in added sugar and limited salt, and low in saturated fatty
acids; the traditional source of fat in the Mediterranean is olive oil, rich in monounsaturated fat.
The healthy rice-based Japanese diet is also high in carbohydrates and low in fat. Both diets are
low in meat and saturated fats and high in legumes and other vegetables; they are associated with a
low incidence of ailments and low environmental impact.[194]
At the global level the environmental impact of agribusiness is being addressed through sustainable
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agriculture and organic farming. At the local level there are various movements working towards
local food production, more productive use of urban wastelands and domestic gardens including
permaculture, urban horticulture, local food, slow food, sustainable gardening, and organic
gardening.[195][196]
Sustainable seafood is seafood from either fished or farmed sources that can maintain or increase
production in the future without jeopardizing the ecosystems from which it was acquired. The
sustainable seafood movement has gained momentum as more people become aware of both
overfishing and environmentally destructive fishing methods.
Materials, toxic substances, waste
As the global population and affluence has increased, so has

the use of various materials increased in volume, diversity, and
distance transported. Included here are raw materials,
minerals, synthetic chemicals (including hazardous
substances), manufactured products, food, living organisms,
and waste.[197] By 2050, humanity could consume an
estimated 140 billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and
biomass per year (three times its current amount) unless the
An electric wire reel reused as a
economic growth rate is decoupled from the rate of natural
center table in a Rio de Janeiro
resource consumption. Developed countries' citizens consume
decoration fair. The reuse of
an average of 16 tons of those four key resources per capita,
materials is a sustainable practice
ranging up to 40 or more tons per person in some developed
that is rapidly growing among
designers in Brazil.
countries with resource consumption levels far beyond what is
likely sustainable.[198]
Sustainable use of materials has targeted the idea of

dematerialization, converting the linear path of materials (extraction, use, disposal in landfill) to a
circular material flow that reuses materials as much as possible, much like the cycling and reuse of
waste in nature.[199] This approach is supported by product stewardship and the increasing use of
material flow analysis at all levels, especially individual countries and the global economy.[200] The
use of sustainable biomaterials that come from renewable sources and that can be recycled is
preferred to the use on non-renewables from a life cycle standpoint.
Synthetic chemical production has escalated following the stimulus it received during the Second
World War. Chemical production includes everything from herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers to
domestic chemicals and hazardous substances.[201] Apart from the build-up of greenhouse gas
emissions in the atmosphere, chemicals of particular concern include: heavy metals, nuclear waste,
chlorofluorocarbons, persistent organic pollutants and all harmful chemicals capable of
bioaccumulation. Although most synthetic chemicals are harmless there needs to be rigorous
testing of new chemicals, in all countries, for adverse environmental and health effects.
International legislation has been established to deal with the global distribution and management
of dangerous goods.[202][203] The effects of some chemical agents needed long-term measurements
and a lot of legal battles to realize their danger to human health. The classification of the toxic
carcinogenic agents is handled by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Every economic activity produces material that can be classified as waste. To reduce waste,
industry, business and government are now mimicking nature by turning the waste produced by
industrial metabolism into a resource. Dematerialization is being encouraged through the ideas of
industrial ecology, ecodesign[204] and ecolabelling. In addition to the well-established "reduce,
reuse and recycle", shoppers are using their purchasing power for ethical consumerism.[85]
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The European Union is expected to table by the end of

2015 an ambitious Circular Economy package which is
expected to include concrete legislative proposals on
waste management, ecodesign, and limits on landfills.
In 2019 a new report "Plastic and Climate" was

published. According to the report, plastic will
contribute greenhouse gases in the equivalent of 850
million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the
atmosphere in 2019. In the current trend, annual
emissions will grow to 1.34 billion tons by 2030. By
2050 plastic could emit 56 billion tons of greenhouse
gas emissions, as much as 14 percent of the earth's
remaining carbon budget.[205]
Economic dimension
On one account, sustainability "concerns the The waste hierarchy
specification of a set of actions to be taken by present
persons that will not diminish the prospects of future
persons to enjoy levels of consumption, wealth, utility, or
welfare comparable to those enjoyed by present persons".[206]
Sustainability interfaces with economics through the social and
ecological consequences of economic activity.[38] Sustainability
economics represents: "... a broad interpretation of ecological
economics where environmental and ecological variables and
issues are basic but part of a multidimensional perspective.
Social, cultural, health-related and monetary/financial aspects
have to be integrated into the analysis."[207] According to the The Great Fish Market, painted by
World Economic Forum, half of the global GDP is strongly or Jan Brueghel the Elder
moderately dependent on nature. For every dollar spent on
Nature restoration there is a profit of at least 9 dollars.
Example of this link is the COVID-19 pandemic, which is linked to nature destruction and caused
severe economic damage.[208]
However, the concept of sustainability is much broader than the concepts of sustained yield of
welfare, resources, or profit margins.[209] At present, the average per capita consumption of people
in the developing world is sustainable but population numbers are increasing and individuals are
aspiring to high-consumption Western lifestyles. The developed world population is only
increasing slightly but consumption levels are unsustainable. The challenge for sustainability is to
curb and manage Western consumption while raising the standard of living of the developing world
without increasing its resource use and environmental impact. This must be done by using
strategies and technology that break the link between, on the one hand, economic growth and on
the other, environmental damage and resource depletion.[210]
A recent UNEP report proposes a green economy defined as one that "improves human well-being
and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities": it
"does not favor one political perspective over another but works to minimize excessive depletion of
natural capital". The report makes three key findings: "that greening not only generates increases
in wealth, in particular, a gain in ecological commons or natural capital but also (over a period of
six years) produces a higher rate of GDP growth"; that there is "an inextricable link between
poverty eradication and better maintenance and conservation of the ecological commons, arising
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from the benefit flows from natural capital that are received directly by the poor"; "in the transition
to a green economy, new jobs are created, which in time exceed the losses in "brown economy"
jobs. However, there is a period of job losses in transition, which requires investment in re-skilling
and re-educating the workforce".[211]
Several key areas have been targeted for economic analysis and reform: the environmental effects
of unconstrained economic growth; the consequences of nature being treated as an economic
externality; and the possibility of an economics that takes greater account of the social and
environmental consequences of market behavior.[212] Women are more likely to start businesses
which focus on sustainability.[213][214][215]
Decoupling environmental degradation and economic growth
Historically there has been a close correlation between economic growth and environmental
degradation: as communities grow, so the environment declines. This trend is clearly demonstrated
on graphs of human population numbers, economic growth, and environmental indicators.
[216]</ref> Unsustainable economic growth has been starkly compared to the malignant growth of
a cancer[217] because it eats away at the Earth's ecosystem services which are its life-support
system. There is a concern that, unless resource use is checked, modern global civilization will
follow the path of ancient civilizations that collapsed through overexploitation of their resource
base.[218][219] While conventional economics is concerned largely with economic growth and the
efficient allocation of resources, ecological economics has the explicit goal of sustainable scale
(rather than continual growth), fair distribution and efficient allocation, in that order.[220][221] The
World Business Council for Sustainable Development states that "business cannot succeed in
societies that fail".[222]
In economic and environmental fields, the term decoupling is becoming increasingly used in the
context of economic production and environmental quality. When used in this way, it refers to the
ability of an economy to grow without incurring corresponding increases in environmental
pressure. Ecological economics includes the study of societal metabolism, the throughput of
resources that enter and exit the economic system in relation to environmental quality.[221][223] An
economy that can sustain GDP growth without harming the environment is said to be decoupled.
Exactly how, if, or to what extent this can be achieved is a subject of much debate. In 2011 the
International Resource Panel, hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
warned that by 2050 the human race could be devouring 140 billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil
fuels and biomass per year—three times its current rate of consumption—unless nations can make
serious attempts at decoupling.[224] The report noted that citizens of developed countries consume
an average of 16 tons of those four key resources per capita per annum (ranging up to 40 or more
tons per person in some developed countries). By comparison, the average person in India today
consumes four tons per year. Sustainability studies analyse ways to reduce resource intensity (the
amount of resource (e.g. water, energy, or materials) needed for the production, consumption and
disposal of a unit of good or service) whether this be achieved from improved economic
management, product design, or new technology.[225]
There are conflicting views on whether improvements in technological efficiency and innovation
will enable a complete decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation. On the
one hand, it has been claimed repeatedly by efficiency experts that resource use intensity (i.e.,
energy and materials use per unit GDP) could in principle be reduced by at least four or five-fold,
thereby allowing for continued economic growth without increasing resource depletion and
associated pollution.[226][227] On the other hand, an extensive historical analysis of technological
efficiency improvements has conclusively shown that improvements in the efficiency of the use of
energy and materials were almost always outpaced by economic growth, in large part because of
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the rebound effect (conservation) or Jevons Paradox resulting in a net increase in resource use and
associated pollution.[228][229] Furthermore, there are inherent thermodynamic (i.e., second law of
thermodynamics) and practical limits to all efficiency improvements. For example, there are
certain minimum unavoidable material requirements for growing food, and there are limits to
making automobiles, houses, furniture, and other products lighter and thinner without the risk of
losing their necessary functions.[230] Since it is both theoretically and practically impossible to
increase resource use efficiencies indefinitely, it is equally impossible to have continued and
infinite economic growth without a concomitant increase in resource depletion and environmental
pollution, i.e., economic growth and resource depletion can be decoupled to some degree over the
short run but not the long run. Consequently, long-term sustainability requires the transition to a
steady state economy in which total GDP remains more or less constant, as has been advocated for
decades by Herman Daly and others in the ecological economics community.
A different proposed solution to partially decouple economic growth from environmental

degradation is the restore approach.[231] This approach views "restore" as a fourth component to
the common reduce, reuse, recycle motto. Participants in such efforts are encouraged to voluntarily
donate towards nature conservation a small fraction of the financial savings they experience
through a more frugal use of resources. These financial savings would normally lead to rebound
effects, but a theoretical analysis suggests that donating even a small fraction of the experienced
savings can potentially more than eliminate rebound effects.[231]
Nature as an economic externality
The economic importance of nature is indicated by the use of

the expression ecosystem services to highlight the market
relevance of an increasingly scarce natural world that can no
longer be regarded as both unlimited and free.[232] In general,
as a commodity or service becomes more scarce the price
increases and this acts as a restraint that encourages frugality,
technical innovation and alternative products. However, this
only applies when the product or service falls within the
Deforestation of native rain forest in
market system.[233] As ecosystem services are generally treated
Rio de Janeiro City for extraction of
as economic externalities they are unpriced and therefore clay for civil engineering
overused and degraded, a situation sometimes referred to as
the Tragedy of the Commons.[232]
One approach to this dilemma has been the attempt to "internalize" these "externalities" by using
market strategies like ecotaxes and incentives, tradable permits for carbon, and the encouragement
of payment for ecosystem services. Community currencies associated with Local Exchange Trading
Systems (LETS), a gift economy and Time Banking have also been promoted as a way of supporting
local economies and the environment.[234][235] Green economics is another market-based attempt
to address issues of equity and the environment.[236] The global recession and a range of associated
government policies are likely to bring the biggest annual fall in the world's carbon dioxide
emissions in 40 years.[237]
Economic opportunity
Treating the environment as an externality may generate short-term profit at the expense of
sustainability.[238] Sustainable business practices, on the other hand, integrate ecological concerns
with social and economic ones (i.e., the triple bottom line).[239][240] The growth that depletes
ecosystem services is sometimes termed "uneconomic growth" as it leads to a decline in quality of
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life.[241][242] Minimizing such growth can provide opportunities for local businesses. For example,
industrial waste can be treated as an "economic resource in the wrong place". The benefits of waste
reduction include savings from disposal costs, fewer environmental penalties, and reduced liability
insurance. This may lead to increased market share due to an improved public image.[243][244]
Energy efficiency can also increase profits by reducing costs.
The idea of sustainability as a business opportunity has led to the formation of organizations such
as the Sustainability Consortium of the Society for Organizational Learning,[245] the Sustainable
Business Institute,[246] and the World Council for Sustainable Development.[247] The expansion of
sustainable business opportunities can contribute to job creation through the introduction of
green-collar workers.[248] Research focusing on progressive corporate leaders who have integrated
sustainability into commercial strategy has yielded a leadership competency model for
sustainability,[249][250] and led to emergence of the concept of "embedded sustainability"—defined
by its authors Chris Laszlo and Nadya Zhexembayeva as "incorporation of environmental, health,
and social value into the core business with no trade-off in price or quality—in other words, with no
social or green premium".[251] Laszlo and Zhexembayeva's research showed that embedded
sustainability offers at least seven distinct opportunities for business value creation: a) better risk-
management, b) increased efficiency through reduced waste and resource use, c) better product
differentiation, d) new market entrances, e) enhanced brand and reputation, f) greater opportunity
to influence industry standards, and g) greater opportunity for radical innovation.[252] Nadya
Zhexembayeva's 2014 research further suggested that innovation driven by resource depletion can
result in fundamental advantages for company products and services, as well as the company
strategy as a whole, when right principles of innovation are applied.[253]
Market approach
Market approach refers to incentive-based policy that encourages conservative practices or

pollution reduction strategies. Types of Market instruments are Pollution charge, Subsidies,
Deposit/refund systems and Pollution permit trading systems.[254]
Ecosocialist approach
One school of thought, often labeled ecosocialism or ecological Marxism, asserts that the capitalist
economic system is fundamentally incompatible with the ecological and social requirements of
sustainability.[255] This theory rests on the premises that:
1. Capitalism's sole economic purpose is "unlimited capital accumulation" in the hands of the
capitalist class[256]
2. The urge to accumulate (the profit motive) drives capitalists to continually reinvest and expand
production, creating indefinite and unsustainable economic growth[257][258]
3. "Capital tends to degrade the conditions of its own production" (the ecosystems and resources
on which any economy depends)[259]
Thus, according to this analysis:
1. Giving economic priority to the fulfillment of human needs while staying within ecological limits,
as sustainable development demands, is in conflict with the structural workings of
capitalism[260]
2. A steady-state capitalist economy is impossible;[261] further, a steady-state capitalist economy
is socially undesirable due to the inevitable outcome of massive unemployment and
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underemployment[262]
3. Capitalism will, unless overcome by revolution, run up against the physical limits of the
biosphere and self-destruct[263]
By this logic, market-based solutions to ecological crises (ecological economics, environmental

economics, green economy) are rejected as technical tweaks that do not confront capitalism's
structural failures.[264][265] "Low-risk" technology/science-based solutions such as solar power,
sustainable agriculture, and increases in energy efficiency are seen as necessary but
insufficient.[266] "High-risk" technological solutions such as nuclear power and climate engineering
are entirely rejected.[267] Attempts made by businesses to "greenwash" their practices are regarded
as false advertising, and it is pointed out that implementation of renewable technology (such as
Walmart's proposition to supply their electricity with solar power) has the effect opposite of
reductions in resource consumption, viz. further economic growth.[268] Sustainable business
models and the triple bottom line are viewed as morally praiseworthy but ignorant to the tendency
in capitalism for the distribution of wealth to become increasingly unequal and socially
unstable/unsustainable.[259][269] Ecosocialists claim that the general unwillingness of capitalists to
tolerate—and capitalist governments to implement—constraints on maximum profit (such as
ecotaxes or preservation and conservation measures) renders environmental reforms incapable of
facilitating large-scale change: "History teaches us that although capitalism has at times responded
to environmental movements ... at a certain point, at which the system's underlying accumulation
drive is affected, its resistance to environmental demands stiffens."[270] They also note that, up
until the event of total ecological collapse, destruction caused by natural disasters generally causes
an increase in economic growth and accumulation; thus, capitalists have no foreseeable motivation
to reduce the probability of disasters (i.e. convert to sustainable/ecological production).[271]
Ecosocialists advocate for the revolutionary succession of capitalism by ecosocialism—an

egalitarian economic/political/social structure designed to harmonize human society with non-
human ecology and to fulfill human needs—as the only sufficient solution to the present-day
ecological crisis, and hence the only path towards sustainability.[272] Sustainability is viewed not as
a domain exclusive to scientists, environmental activists, and business leaders but as a holistic
project that must involve the whole of humanity redefining its place in Nature: "What every
environmentalist needs to know ... is that capitalism is not the solution but the problem, and that if
humanity is going to survive this crisis, it will do so because it has exercised its capacity for human
freedom, through social struggle, in order to create a whole new world—in coevolution with the
planet."[273]
Social dimension
Sustainability issues are generally expressed in scientific and environmental terms, as well as in
ethical terms of stewardship, but implementing change is a social challenge that entails, among
other things, international and national law, urban planning and transport, local and individual
lifestyles and ethical consumerism.[274] "The relationship between human rights and human
development, corporate power and environmental justice, global poverty and citizen action,
suggest that responsible global citizenship is an inescapable element of what may at first glance
seem to be simply matters of personal consumer and moral choice."[275]
Peace, security, social justice
Social disruptions like war, crime and corruption divert resources from areas of greatest human
need, damage the capacity of societies to plan for the future, and generally threaten human well-
being and the environment.[275] Broad-based strategies for more sustainable social systems
23 of 55 18/09/2020, 11:04
include: improved education and the political

empowerment of women, especially in developing
countries; greater regard for social justice, notably
equity between rich and poor both within and between
countries; and intergenerational equity.[99] Depletion
of natural resources including fresh water[276]
increases the likelihood of "resource wars".[277] This
aspect of sustainability has been referred to as
environmental security and creates a clear need for
global environmental agreements to manage resources
such as aquifers and rivers which span political
boundaries, and to protect shared global systems
including oceans and the atmosphere.[278] High life expectancy can be achieved with low
CO emissions, for example in Costa Rica, a
2
To achieve sustainability, global peace will probably be
country which also ranks high on the Happy
needed, because economic growth is one of the main Planet Index.
factors that determine the military capability. Without
peace and international cooperation, a country that
will limit its economic growth will achieve lower military capability. If there are countries that
continue to grow economically, the result may be the conquest of the first country by the ones that
continue to grow.[279] In such conditions there is very low probability that a steady state economy
can exist. Economic growth will continue what can pose problems to sustainability.[161]
The Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE) mention on his site that the
cold war was measured in GDP, and because of it was unsustainable, referring to the book of
Robert Collins, named: "More: The Politics of Economic Growth in Postwar America".[280] The
book is dealing with economic growth in the US in the time of the cold war and claim that it was
due to the will of "pay for the arms build-up and proof of the superiority of the United States'
market economy"[281]
In 2017 China leaders declare that they want to build an ecological civilization, what has very big
significance to the planet, but some are sceptic about it, partly because economic growth is
necessary to increase the military capability of China.[282][283]
In his book Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond argue that Surplus product, while linked with
the creation of a ruling class and social stratification, create the possibility to labour division, what
means that people could be specialized on warfare, making weapons, and this enabled the
countries with more surplus product to conquest countries with less.[284]
Poverty
A major hurdle to achieve sustainability is the

alleviation of poverty. It has been widely
acknowledged that poverty is one source of
environmental degradation. Such acknowledgment
has been made by the Brundtland Commission report
Our Common Future[285] and the Millennium
Development Goals.[286] There is a growing
realization in national governments and multilateral Map of countries and territories by fertility rate
institutions that it is impossible to separate economic as of 2020
development issues from environment issues:
according to the Brundtland report, "poverty is a
24 of 55 18/09/2020, 11:04
major cause and effect of global environmental problems. It is therefore futile to attempt to deal
with environmental problems without a broader perspective that encompasses the factors
underlying world poverty and international inequality."[287] Individuals living in poverty tend to
rely heavily on their local ecosystem as a source for basic needs (such as nutrition and medicine)
and general well-being.[288] As population growth continues to increase, increasing pressure is
being placed on the local ecosystem to provide these basic essentials. According to the UN
Population Fund, high fertility and poverty have been strongly correlated, and the world's poorest
countries also have the highest fertility and population growth rates.[289] The word sustainability is
also used widely by western country development agencies and international charities to focus
their poverty alleviation efforts in ways that can be sustained by the local populace and its
environment. For example, teaching water treatment to the poor by boiling their water with
charcoal, would not generally be considered a sustainable strategy, whereas using PET solar water
disinfection would be. Also, sustainable best practices can involve the recycling of materials, such
as the use of recycled plastics for lumber where deforestation has devastated a country's timber
base. Another example of sustainable practices in poverty alleviation is the use of exported recycled
materials from developed to developing countries, such as Bridges to Prosperity's use of wire rope
from shipping container gantry cranes to act as the structural wire rope for footbridges that cross
rivers in poor rural areas in Asia and Africa.
Human relationship to nature
According to Murray Bookchin, the idea that humans must dominate nature is common in
hierarchical societies. Bookchin contends that capitalism and market relationships, if unchecked,
can reduce the planet to a mere resource to be exploited. Nature is thus treated as a commodity:
"The plundering of the human spirit by the market place is paralleled by the plundering of the
earth by capital."[290] Social ecology, founded by Bookchin, is based on the conviction that nearly
all of humanity's present ecological problems originate in, indeed are mere symptoms of,
dysfunctional social arrangements. Whereas most authors proceed as if our ecological problems
can be fixed by implementing recommendations which stem from physical, biological, economic,
etc., studies, Bookchin's claim is that these problems can only be resolved by understanding the
underlying social processes and intervening in those processes by applying the concepts and
methods of the social sciences.[291]
A pure capitalist approach has also been criticized in Stern Review on the Economics of Climate
Change by referring to climate change as "the greatest example of market failure we have ever
seen."[292][293]
With the United States of America, The Government and the Economy has had a long-lasting
impact on the environment, but in a problematic way. Policy issues regarding the environment
have shown that the country regards the protection of the environment as a "second-hand issue".
One causation from this is a certain dilemma called "collective action problem" or collective action
dilemmas." These occur when individuals, firms, or governments would be better off if they
cooperated in the pursuit of a common goal, but, for one reason or another, one or more of those
involved choose a less optimal course of action.[294] Matthew Potoski and Aseem Prakash have
made a model establishing 4 cells that are explaining each benefit for the government or the
economic process. For the government, one cost might be the loss of public confidence and trust,
while a firm might lose market share and profitability [294]
Deep ecology is a movement founded by Arne Naess that establishes principles for the well-being of
all life on Earth and the richness and diversity of life forms. The movement advocates, among other
things, a substantial decrease in human population and consumption along with the reduction of
human interference with the nonhuman world. To achieve this, deep ecologists advocate policies
25 of 55 18/09/2020, 11:04
for basic economic, technological, and ideological structures that will improve the quality of life
rather than the standard of living. Those who subscribe to these principles are obliged to make the
necessary change happen.[295] The concept of a billion-year Sustainocene has been developed to
initiate policy consideration of an earth where human structures power and fuel the needs of that
species (for example through artificial photosynthesis) allowing Rights of Nature.[296]
Human settlements
One approach to sustainable living, Sustainability principles

exemplified by small-scale urban transition
towns and rural ecovillages, seeks to create 1. Reduce dependence upon fossil fuels,
self-reliant communities based on principles underground metals, and minerals
of simple living, which maximize self- 2. Reduce dependence upon synthetic chemicals
sufficiency particularly in food production. and other unnatural substances
These principles, on a broader scale, 3. Reduce encroachment upon nature
underpin the concept of a bioregional
4. Meet human needs fairly & efficiently[297]
economy.[298] These approaches often utilize
commons based knowledge sharing of open
source appropriate technology.[299]
Other approaches, loosely based around New Urbanism, are successfully reducing environmental
impacts by altering the built environment to create and preserve sustainable cities which support
sustainable transport and zero emission housing. Residents in compact urban neighborhoods drive
fewer miles, and have significantly lower environmental impacts across a range of measures,
compared with those living in sprawling suburbs.[300] Compact urban neighborhoods would also
promote a great people climate, whereby increasing the accessibility to bike, walk or take public
transport within neighborhoods would increase the amount of interaction between people. With
more diversification between people, this increases people's happiness and leads to a better
standard of living.[301] In sustainable architecture the recent movement of New Classical
Architecture promotes a sustainable approach towards construction, that appreciates and develops
smart growth, architectural tradition and classical design.[302][303] This in contrast to modernist
and globally uniform architecture, as well as opposing solitary housing estates and suburban
sprawl.[304] Both trends started in the 1980s. The concept of circular flow land use management
has also been introduced in Europe to promote sustainable land use patterns that strive for
compact cities and a reduction of greenfield land take by urban sprawl.
Large scale social movements can influence both community choices and the built environment.
Eco-municipalities may be one such movement.[305] Eco-municipalities take a systems approach,
based on sustainability principles. The eco-municipality movement is participatory, involving
community members in a bottom-up approach. In Sweden, more than 70 cities and towns—25
percent of all municipalities in the country—have adopted a common set of "Sustainability
Principles" and implemented these systematically throughout their municipal operations. There
are now twelve eco-municipalities in the United States and the American Planning Association has
adopted sustainability objectives based on the same principles.[297]
There is a wealth of advice available to individuals wishing to reduce their personal and social
impact on the environment through small, inexpensive and easily achievable steps.[306][307] But
the transition required to reduce global human consumption to within sustainable limits involves
much larger changes, at all levels and contexts of society.[308] The United Nations has recognised
the central role of education, and have declared a decade of education for sustainable development,
2005–2014, which aims to "challenge us all to adopt new behaviours and practices to secure our
future".[309] The Worldwide Fund for Nature proposes a strategy for sustainability that goes
26 of 55 18/09/2020, 11:04
beyond education to tackle underlying individualistic and materialistic societal values head-on and
strengthen people's connections with the natural world.[310]
Human and labor rights
Application of social sustainability requires stakeholders to look at human and labor rights,
prevention of human trafficking, and other human rights risks.[311] These issues should be
considered in production and procurement of various worldwide commodities. The international
community has identified many industries whose practices have been known to violate social
sustainability, and many of these industries have organizations in place that aid in verifying the
social sustainability of products and services.[312] The Equator Principles (financial industry), Fair
Wear Foundation (garments), and Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition are examples of such
organizations and initiatives. Resources are also available for verifying the life-cycle of products
and the producer or vendor level, such as Green Seal for cleaning products, NSF-140 for carpet
production, and even labeling of organic food in the United States.[313]
Cultural dimension
Tourism
Sustainable tourism seeks to increase tourism visits and revenues while preserving vulnerable
heritage and ecological sites. This may be accomplished by attracting visitors to repaired or
reconstructed sites, using heritage marketing to promote a feeling of authenticity.[314] According to
a paper published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, a visitor's experiences can be enhanced
when substituting the contrived for the genuine, though this may also inspire a potentially
deleterious desire for follow-up visits to the real thing: objectively authentic sites untouched by
repair or rejuvenation. Feelings of authenticity at a tourist site are thus implicitly linked to
sustainable tourism; as the maximisation of existential "felt" authenticity at sites of limited
historical provenance increases the likelihood of return visits and lessens the desire for visits to
genuine sites.[315]
Well-Being and sustainability

The World Health Organization recognized that achieving sustainability is impossible without
addressing health issues. Sustainable world is needed for sustainable health and some ways to
reach more GDP (part of the Sustainable Development Goals) can harm health.[316] There is a rise
in some interconnected health and sustainability problems, for example, in food production.
Measures for achieving environmental sustainability can improve health[317]
In 2018, 130 science and medical academies published a report, saying that the global food
system is failing us: it produces too much food what creates huge environmental destruction
from one side and a huge health damage from overweight and obesity from the other while
creating big numbers of malnourished people in the same time.[318]
A report from the Lancet commission says the same. The experts write: " What we're doing now is
unsustainable," "The only thing we can hope is that a sense of urgency will permeate. We're
running out of time." "Until now, undernutrition and obesity have been seen as polar opposites of
either too few or too many calories," "In reality, they are both driven by the same unhealthy,
inequitable food systems, underpinned by the same political economy that is single-focused on
economic growth, and ignores the negative health and equity outcomes. Climate change has the
27 of 55 18/09/2020, 11:04
same story of profits and power,"[319]
Obesity was a medical problem for people who overconsumed food and worked too little already in
ancient Rome, and its impact slowly grew through history.[320]
Promoting active living and reducing sedentary lifestyle, for example, by cycling, reduces
greenhouse gas emissions and improve health[321][322]
Reducing the use of screens can help fight many diseases, including depression[323] and lower
greenhouse gas emission[324]
Reducing Light pollution can reduce GHG emissions and improve health[325][326]
In some cases reducing consumption can increase the life level. In Costa Rica the GDP is 4 times
smaller than in many countries in Western Europe and North America, but people live longer and
better. An American study shows that when the income is higher than $75,000, an increase in
profits does not increase well being. For better measuring the well being, the New Economics
Foundation’s has launched the Happy Planet Index.[327]
Religion and sustainability

At the beginning of the 21th century, Pope Francis, published the encyclical "Laudato si'", a
document calling humanity to preserve the sustainability of the biosphere. The encyclical is taught
in the academy of the Sustainable Development Goals[328] The document is also called: "on care for
our common home".[329] In the encyclical the pope call to fight climate change and ecological
degradation as a whole. He claimed that humanity is facing a severe ecological crisis and blamed
consumerism and non responsible development. The encyclical is addressed to "every person living
on this planet".[330]
Threats to sustainability
In 2009 a group of scientists leaded by Johan Rockström from the Stockholm Resilience Centre
and Will Steffen from the Australian National University described nine planetary boundaries.
Transgressing even one of them can be dangerous to sustainability. Those boundaries are:
28 of 55 18/09/2020, 11:04
Planetary Boundaries[331]
Control Boundary Current Boundary Preindustrial

Earth-system process Commentary
variable[332] value value crossed value
Atmospheric
carbon dioxide
concentration 350 400 yes 280 [334]
(ppm by
volume)[333]
Alternatively:
1. Climate change Increase in
radiative forcing
(W/m2) since the [335]
1.0 1.5 yes 0
start of the
industrial
revolution
(~1750)
Extinction rate
(number of [336]
2. Biodiversity loss 10 > 100 yes 0.1–1
species per
million per year)
(a)
anthropogenic
nitrogen
removed from 35 121 yes 0 [337]
the atmosphere
(millions of
tonnes per year)
3. Biogeochemical
(b)
anthropogenic
phosphorus
going into the 11 8.5–9.5 no −1 [338]
oceans (millions
of tonnes per
year)
Global mean
saturation state
of aragonite in [339]
4. Ocean acidification 2.75 2.90 no 3.44
surface
seawater
(omega units)
Land surface
converted to [340]
5. Land use 15 11.7 no low
cropland
(percent)
Global human
6. Freshwater consumption of 4000 2600 no 415 [341]
water (km3/yr)
Stratospheric
ozone [342]
7. Ozone depletion 276 283 no 290
concentration
(Dobson units)
Overall
particulate
8. Atmospheric concentration in [343]
not yet quantified
aerosols the atmosphere,
on a regional
basis
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Concentration of
toxic
substances,
plastics,
endocrine
9. Chemical pollution disruptors, not yet quantified [344]
heavy metals,
and radioactive
contamination
into the
environment
In 2015, the scientists published an update. They changed the name of the boundary "Loss of
biodeversity" to "Change in biosphere integrity" meaning that not only the number of species but
also the functioning of the biosphere as a whole is important and "Chemical pollution" to
"Introduction of novel entities," including in it not only pollution but also "organic pollutants,
radioactive materials, nanomaterials, and micro-plastics". According to the update 4 of the
boundaries are crossed: "climate change, loss of biosphere integrity, land-system change, altered
biogeochemical cycles (phosphorus and nitrogen)".[345] In 2019 they tried to develop a new version
of the boundaries including in the boundary "Introduction of novel entities" genetically modified
organisms, pesticides and even artificial intelligence.[346]
In 2005 Jared Diamond published a book titled: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or
Succeed, in which he described 12 main problems that can be dangerous to sustainability:[347]
1. Deforestation and habitat destruction

2. Soil problems (erosion, salinization, and soil fertility losses)
3. Water management problems
4. Overhunting
5. Overfishing
6. Effects of introduced species on native species
7. Overpopulation
8. Increased per-capita impact of people
9. Anthropogenic climate change
10. Buildup of toxins in the environment
11. Energy shortages
12. Full human use of the Earth's photosynthetic capacity
Solutions: paths to sustainability

Strategies for reaching sustainability can generally be divided into three categories. Most
governments and international organizations that aim to achieve sustainability employ all three
approaches, though they may disagree on which deserves priority. The three approaches, embodied
in the I = PAT formula,[86] can be summarized as follows:
Affluence: Many believe that the best path to sustainability is reducing consumption. This theory
is represented most clearly in the idea of a steady-state economy, meaning an economy without
growth. Methods in this category include, among others, the phase-out of lightweight plastic bags,
promoting biking, and increasing energy efficiency. For example, according to the report "Plastic
and Climate", the plastic could emit greenhouse gas emissions, as much as 15% of the earth's
remaining carbon budget, by 2050 and over 50% by 2100, except the impacts on phytoplankton.
[348][205] The report says that for solving the problem, reduction in consumption will be
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essential.[349] In 2020 research was published by a group of scientists, saying that affluence is the
biggest threat to sustainability. The research was published on the site of the World Economic
Forum.[350]
Population: Others think that the most effective means of achieving sustainability is population
control, for example by improving access to birth control and education.[351]
Technology: Still others hold that the most promising path to sustainability is new technology.
This theory may be seen as a form of technological optimism. One popular tactic in this category is
transitioning to renewable energy.[352][353] Others methods to achieve sustainability, associated
with this theory are climate engineering (geo – engineering), genetic engineering (GMO,
Genetically modified organism), decoupling.
Also legislation should not be a barrier to sustainability. Law literature has indicated legislative
innovation might be needed.[354]
Organizations whose main purpose is to maintain sustainability are generally defined as

environmental organizations. They are part of the environmental movement.
By sector
Energy:
Energy efficiency,
Renewable energy,
Energy conservation
Agriculture:
Sustainable agriculture
Organic agriculture
Regenerative agriculture
Ecosystems (forests etc.):

Biological integrity
Ecosystem management
Ecosystem-based management
Ecosystem health
Reforestation
Forest conservation
Sustainable gardening
Phase-out of lightweight plastic bags
Transportation:
Sustainable transport:
Bicycle,
Public transport
Walking
Sustainable urban transport
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Economy:
Steady-state economy
Degrowth
Anti-consumerism
Deep ecology
Nature-based solutions
Circular economy
Ecovillages
Sustainable living
Simple living
Urban planning, buildings:

Sustainable urban planning
Urban open space
Green building
Sustainable cities
See also
Bibliography of sustainability
Computational sustainability
Foresight (psychology)
List of sustainability topics
Outline of sustainability
Sustainability advocates (category)
Sustainability advertising
Water footprint
Topics
United Nations Agenda 21
Applied sustainability
Appropriate technology
Carfree city
Circles of Sustainability
Citizen Science (citizen cleanup projects)
Cradle-to-cradle design
Earth system governance
Ecopsychology
Environmental issue
Environmental racism
Extinction
Global catastrophic risk
Human overpopulation
Introduced species
Micro-sustainability
Pledge two or fewer (campaign for smaller families)
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Resource efficiency
Sociocultural evolution
Sustainability and systemic change resistance
Sustainable capitalism
Sustainable city
Sustainable design
Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable forest management
Sustainable living
Sustainable sanitation
Sustainability science
Sustainability standards and certification
Sustainability studies
World Cities Summit
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sustainable everyday consumption
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Sustainability - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.

Sustainability can also be defined as a socio-ecological process

Three dimensions of sustainability

Venn diagram of sustainable development:

Circles of sustainability and the fourth dimension of sustainability

the human and natural worlds) and the environment

Another model suggests humans' attempt to achieve

Principles and concepts

Scale and context

A major driver of human impact on Earth systems is the

Where: I = Environmental impact, P = Population, A = Affluence, T =

According to the most recent (July 2015) revision of

Emerging economies like those of China and India

The ecological footprint measures human

Romanian American economist Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, a progenitor in economics and a

Global human impact on biodiversity

general way through detrimental changes in the global

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is an international

3. Damage to ecosystems undermines 35 of 44 selected UN targets, including the UN General

Sustainable development goals

1. Poverty – End poverty in all its forms everywhere[118]

1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Education for Sustainable Development

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is commonly understood as education that

Management of human consumption of resources is an indirect approach based largely on

Freshwater and oceans

Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface. Of this, 97.5% is the

Loss of biodiversity stems largely from the habitat loss and

Management of human consumption

agriculture and fisheries have the most

The Sun's energy, stored by plants

The American Public Health Association (APHA) defines a

Materials, toxic substances, waste

As the global population and affluence has increased, so has

Sustainable use of materials has targeted the idea of

The European Union is expected to table by the end of

In 2019 a new report "Plastic and Climate" was

Decoupling environmental degradation and economic growth

A different proposed solution to partially decouple economic growth from environmental

Nature as an economic externality

The economic importance of nature is indicated by the use of

Market approach refers to incentive-based policy that encourages conservative practices or

Thus, according to this analysis:

By this logic, market-based solutions to ecological crises (ecological economics, environmental

Ecosocialists advocate for the revolutionary succession of capitalism by ecosocialism—an

Peace, security, social justice

include: improved education and the political

A major hurdle to achieve sustainability is the

Human relationship to nature

One approach to sustainable living, Sustainability principles

Human and labor rights

Well-Being and sustainability

same story of profits and power,"[319]

Religion and sustainability

Control Boundary Current Boundary Preindustrial

1. Deforestation and habitat destruction

Solutions: paths to sustainability

Organizations whose main purpose is to maintain sustainability are generally defined as

Ecosystems (forests etc.):

Urban planning, buildings: