Background
The word "Sustainable" and the term "Sustainable Development" guide our every action. Unfortunately few people respect their meanings and use them in a wholly inappropriate way.
Sustainable simply means “going on forever at a constant rate” or more accurately “a sustainable activity is one that uses resources at the rate at which they can be replenished naturally”
An “unsustainable situation” occurs when natural capital (the sum total of nature’s resources) is consumed faster than it can be replenished.
In 1987 the United Nations defined “sustainable development” as
“development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
In other words the people who are alive today should take a systematic approach to minimising consumption, and to manage natural and social capital for the benefit of future generations.
The First Law of Sustainability warns that
“Population growth and / or growth in the rate of consumption cannot be sustained”.