Preservation of Biodiversity
• Select raw materials that maintain
biodiversity of natural resources (“Global
Sustainability Principles”).
• Use environmentally responsible and
sustainable energy sources and invest in
improving energy efficiency (“Global
Sustainability Principles”).
Regenerative Capacity
• Keep harvest rates of renewable resource
inputs within regenerative capacities of
the natural system that generates them
(Goodland).
• Keep depletion rates of nonrenewable
resource inputs below the rate at
which renewable substitutes are
developed (Goodland).
Reuse and Recycle
• Design for re-usability and recyclability
(“Sustainable Living 101”).
• Design (or redesign, as appropriate)
manufacturing and business processes as
closed-loop systems, reducing emissions
and waste to zero (Robinson).
Constraints of Nonrenewable Resources and Waste
Generation
• The scale (population x consumption
per capita x technology) of the human
economic subsystem should be limited
to a level that, if not optimal, is at least
within the carrying capacity and therefore
sustainable (Goodland).
• Keep waste emissions within the
assimilative capacity of receiving
ecosystems without unacceptable
degradation of its future waste absorptive
capacity or other important ecological
services (Goodland).
• Develop transportation criteria that
prioritize low-impact transportation
modes (Moffat).
• Approach all product development and
product management decisions with
full consideration of the environmental
impacts of the product throughout its life
cycle (Moffat).