WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY?
Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations.
Sustainability is a concept that promotes the ability to meet the needs of the present generation while protecting the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The term “sustainability,” when applied at the institutional level, such as at a college, is the development of a system of programs and processes that work to create and support a vibrant campus economy and high quality of life while respecting the need to sustain natural resources and protect the environment. Sustainable programs are those that result from an institution’s commitment to environmental, social and economic health. This is called the “triple bottom line". The illustration below shows how these three spheres of sustainability interact with one another.