Sustainability

Sustainability means that a process or state can be maintained at a certain level for as long as is wanted.

One common definition of sustainability was from the Brundtland Commission, led by the former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The Commission defined sustainable development as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."^[1] So sustainability seeks to consider the present with the future in mind.

Sustainability often relates to the connection between economic, social and environmental aspects of human society, as well as the non-human (e.g. animal or plant) environment.^[2] Some overarching principles of sustainability include minimalism, efficiency, resilience and self-sufficiency.^[3] Sustainability is key to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the SDGs.

1. ↑ United Nations. 1987. "Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development." General Assembly Resolution 42/187, 11 December 1987. Retrieved: 2007-04-12
2. ↑ Bridge, C. "Universal design impacts housing sustainability: Cost-benefit evidence."^{[permanent dead link]} The University of Sydney, Faculty of Health Sciences. Retrieved on: July 26, 2007.
3. ↑ "The Sustainabilitist Framework | The Sustainabilitist". Retrieved 2021-09-01.