Introduction to Sustainability: Concepts, Definitions & Frameworks

 

🌍 Introduction to Sustainability

📚 Contents

• What is the Environment?

• Understanding Policy in Sustainability

• The Role of Scale

• Defining Jurisdiction

• What is Sustainable Development?

• Why Interdisciplinary Thinking Matters

• Tools & Frameworks for Understanding Sustainability

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🌱 What is the Environment?

Environment refers to:

1. The surroundings, objects, or conditions by which an organism is influenced.

2. A complex system of physical, chemical, and biological factors—such as climate, soil, and living organisms—that shape and determine the survival of ecological communities.

3. The social and cultural conditions affecting individual or community life.

Environmental impacts are expressed and altered through three primary flows:

• Materials

• Energy

• Information

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📑 Understanding Policy

Policy can be defined as:

1. A general plan or course of action adopted by a person, organization, or government.

2. A coordinated strategy to guide individual decisions and ensure unified outcomes.

In sustainability, policies help guide the use of natural resources, promote environmental justice, and manage development responsibly.

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🗺️ The Importance of Scale

Scale is about relative magnitude or order, and can take various forms:

• Geographical scale: e.g., local, regional, global.

• Ecological scale: e.g., individual, population, community.

• Jurisdictional scale: e.g., municipal, federal, international.

Understanding sustainability across scales helps connect small-scale actions to global impacts.

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⚖️ Jurisdiction in Sustainability

Jurisdiction is the legal or authoritative power to make decisions and enforce laws. It includes:

• The geographical area where authority applies.

• The institutions and agents who execute power.

• The coordination between local and international governance.

Jurisdiction plays a crucial role in shaping environmental law, conservation efforts, and sustainability policy implementation.

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🌐 Defining Sustainable Development

Sustainable development is defined as:

"Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
— World Commission on Environment and Development (1987), Our Common Future

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🔄 The Three Pillars of Sustainability

1. Environment

   • Biodiversity

   • Material and energy flow

   • Ecosystem interactions

2. Economy

   • Capital and employment

   • Technological development

   • Investment and market dynamics

3. Society

   • Cultural and human diversity

   • Social equity and justice

   • Quality of life and governance structures

Sustainability exists at the intersection of these three systems.

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🧠 The Need for Interdisciplinary Approaches

Sustainability is a complex field that requires knowledge from various disciplines, including:

• Environmental science

• Economics

• Sociology

• Political science

• Urban planning

Interdisciplinary thinking enables holistic solutions to sustainability challenges.

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⚠️ Major Sustainability Challenges

• Depletion of Finite Resources: Fossil fuels, minerals, soil, endangered species.

• Overuse of Renewable Resources: Deforestation, overfishing, declining soil fertility, misuse of public funds.

• Pollution: Air, water, and soil contamination.

• Inequity: Economic, gender-based, social, and political inequality.

• Biodiversity Loss: Threats to species and ecosystems.