An Essay on the Meaning of Sustainable Development

Put simply, sustainability refers to systems and processes that are able to operate independently over long periods of time (Robertson 2014). Sustainability in terms of development means the maintenance of development over an extended period of time (Elliot 1999). Discussions about sustainability often refer to an idea called the “triple bottom line”, sometimes referred to as the three pillars of sustainability or the “three E’s” (Elkington 2012). The first ‘E’ represents environment and is concerned with the preservation and restoration of the health living systems. The second ‘E’ stands for economy and relates to even distribution of resources over the long term, with each individual being

The most commonly used definition of sustainable development is still that given in the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987), i.e. sustainable development is ‘a process to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ Sustainable development is therefore about creating a better life for all people in ways that will be as viable in the future as they are at present. In other words, sustainable development is based on principles of sound husbandry of the world’s resources, and on equity in the way those resources are used and in the way in which the benefits obtained from them are distributed (Making Tourism More Sustainable, 2005).

Sustainable development is defined as “Development that meets the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (IISD, par. 1 ).

The definition of sustainability varies widely depending on the context in which the concept of sustainability is used. As Herman Daly (1996) put it, “Sustainable development is a term that everyone likes, but nobody is sure of what it means. The term rose to the prominence of a mantra after the publication of the UN sponsored Brundtland Commission report entitled, Our Common Future.” The Brudndtland Commision (1987) that Daly was referring to defined the term as “development that meets the needs of the present

Sustainable development means that the present generations should be able to make use of resources to live better lives in such a manner that it does not compromise the ability of future generations. For sustainable development to occur, there needs to be sustainable economic, ecological and community development. Society needs to be educated about ways in which they can use resources, especially natural, in such a manner that it does not cause harm to the environment and put future generations lives at risk.

Sustainability is a simple term with a fairly simple definition, a way of doing something that can be continued rather than having a finite limit. However, the much more difficult part is defining what things are actually meet the definition of sustainable. As a concept, we all understand it, but the great challenge is figuring out what it will look like in the real world and, perhaps even more difficult, putting the idea into

Sustainable development is the improvement that addresses the issues of the present without bargaining the capacity of future eras to address their own issues. It consists of two key ideas:

Sustainable development is very important to our human being, meanwhile, it is one of the most significant developments for a company. The meaning of sustainable development is a “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (Strange and Bayley, 2008, P24). Sustainable development actually is a synthesis that trying to find the way which can most benefit our current generation and future generation, thus, we have to consider the 3 pillars which are society, environment and economy because they are the three main aspects of human development. For example, we need an appropriate planet for us to stay and raise the food firstly, and in order to maintain equity and stability of the society, we have to balance work, culture and others which are related to people. Also, since these three pillars are interconnected, the economic pillar is very important,

However, for the purpose of this essay, sustainability will be defined as “the concept of sustainability explores the relationship among economic development, environmental quality, and social equity.” Furthermore, this concept of sustainability has been evolving since 1972, where it was introduced at the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. (Smith 2011).

Sustainability is achieved when we understand the economic environmental and social consequences of our actions and make deliberate choice that allow, all people to lead heathy productive and enjoyable lives.

Economic Sustainability: the employment of various strategies to the use of resources so that a long term beneficial balance can be achieved.

Sustainable development can be defined in many ways; the one that I prefer to use is that of the Brundtland Commission: "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."(1) Along those lines, many Governments around the world strive to minimize the pollution impact over our most valuable resource, the Earth. Additionally, lobbyists have spent thousands of hours encouraging legislators to enact laws to protect the environment, and so far we have gotten some results. But I think we can do even more; the next question: What? And the answer is very simple: changing the culture.

Urbanization, which is becoming a buzzword during the last few decades, is enlarging at a booming speed. It is predicted that 93 percents urban growth will occur to the year 2020, in the developing world (Elliot J.A, 1999). Generally speaking, more than half of the people around the world have been moved to cities, which led to a series of “matters” connected with people’s life that changed in a dramatical way. In this period, sustainable development, another buzzword during the past few years, came into people’s view and gradually became the mainstream of society development. Its definition is to make the development continue in a long term, which means allowing appropriate economic growth and industrialization without

The concept of sustainable development has become a major topic among intellectuals from various fields. Sustainable development has gone through various changes in its definitions and at present does not have a commonly accepted definition. The origination of the concept of sustainable development is debatable. In 1974 at a conference on Science and Technology for Human Development by the World Council of Churches the concept of a “sustainable society” is believed to have been first noted. This early concept focused on equitable distribution of scarce resources and the need for democratic decision making. In 1980 the currently used term of sustainable development emerged in the

Review of previous empirical literature: A core element in the economic literature is the center on expansion and the use of man-made, natural, and social capital. The fact that there are three different types of capital that can contribute to economic growth has led to a difference between weak and strong sustainability, as discussed by Pearce and Turner (1990), and Rennings and Wiggering (1997). Weak sustainability describes a situation where it is assumed that the total capital is maintained and that the three different elements of the capital stock can, to some extent, be used to substitute each other in a sustainable solution. On the other hand, strong sustainability requires each of the three types of capital to be maintained in its own right, at least at some minimum level. An example of an application of the strong sustainability concept is Herman Daly’s criteria, which state that renewable resources must be harvested at (or below) some predetermined stock level, and renewable substitutes must be residential to offset the use of exhaustible resources (Daly, 1990).