What does sustainable mean?

In the U.S. and Canada, many residential builders use the word “sustainable” as a synonym for “green.” We hear about sustainable development, sustainable homes, and sustainable building products.

Now that the word “sustainable” has become ubiquitous — even at the GreenBuildingAdvisor Web site, where a new $736,000 home on the coast of Maine is described as a “sustainable spec house” — it’s time to take a step back and consider the word’s history.

It is really important to separate the green from the greenwash as we proceed down a path of improving our planet. Otherwise, we won’t improve it! Can we find sustainability within an opulent western lifestyle? I think we can, if we know what it means first. Plus sustainability means it will require a broad social movement, with people from all walks of life buying into the idea that sustainable is not bad for us, that we do not have to have less to be sustainable. Actually, we will end up having less, but we won’t mind because we will have chosen to have less.

Lets break down the word “sustainable”.

Every time I hear  some green expert use the word “sustainable,” I cringe. As typically used, the word is self-serving, self-congratulatory, and deeply insulting to the world’s poor. So unless we’re talking about forestry or fisheries, let’s avoid using the word altogether.

Lets use a house, for example.
Considering the twin crises of Third-World poverty and global warming, who knows what a “sustainable” house would look like? If the house measures 400 square feet and includes cold running water, a single light bulb, and a toilet, it would be a huge step up the ladder for much of the world’s population. Unfortunately, achieving that goal would probably strain global resources to the breaking point.

I don’t believe that every American needs to live in a shack out of solidarity with the world’s poor. But it’s important to be honest. Our lifestyle is clearly unsustainable. As long as we’re moving in the right direction — that is, beginning to lessen the adverse environmental impacts of our lifestyle choices — there isn’t any shame in living an unsustainable lifestyle. But as we struggle to move toward a new future of improved global equity and environmental balance, let’s avoid the temptation to pat ourselves on the back.

Is the U.S. lifestyle “sustainable”?

For those of us living in North America, it’s easy to lose perspective when considering an appropriate definition for a “sustainable” lifestyle. About one-third of the world’s population eats fewer calories than necessary for health, defecates outdoors, and has no access to clean drinking water, electricity, or a telephone. At the same time, about 80% of the world’s resources are consumed by 20% of the world’s population. Yup, that means us.

As Himalayan glaciers shrink and huge chunks of Antarctic ice crash into the ocean, Americans continue to consume a disproportionate share of the earth’s resources. Our lifestyle clearly threatens the stability of the planet’s climate. We already have too many cars, too many televisions, too many swimming pools, and too many houses.

• Wipe those green onion tears, it's time to celebrate! by Jerry Hart I'm all about "Oh Wow" green stories. This is surely one of them. I'm not about hearing TV anchors make cheesy jokes about cool green stories. That's why Will Farrel in Anchorman was such a GAS! The short of it is....Onion plant goes green, big time and the news people......
• Greenest Cities in the World with Jerry Hart on Smart Green Travel on Green 960 AM San Francisco [/caption] Who's recycling more and "trashing" less? Smart Green Travel visits the top green cities and few runners up who have made the most impressive strides toward eco-friendliness and sustainability. Factors are air, the climate, our health, the landscape and the habitat. When a city accepts as a mandate its......
• Wal-Mart indicating its product's eco-friendliness by Jerry Hart Last week, Wal-Mart started putting labels on products indicating its product's eco-friendliness. Be honest. Buying green items can be down the priority list when we feel unwilling to pay more for environmentally friendly goods. For you...is the green you care about, the green in your pocket right now? Do you......
• Say What? 25 square mile solar blanket of panels, larger than Manhattan by Jerry Hart Science and Art complement each other like cream cheese on a bagel and a delicious cup of coffee. Look at the Chinese doing everything larger than Americans. Aren't they just the king country of "ah...I think we can do that bigger, cheaper, and faster."  When I first looked at this image I thought of the opening ceremony of the Olympics.......
• You get to choose when you're green What was that line from Days of Our Lives, soap opera? "Like sands through the hourglass, these are the bowls of our lives." Now, I own a bowl I never dreamed would be part of my life and even better, I feel great living green and walking the talk. No,......

• How To Spot Third Party Verifications Of "Green". How can you know if you are really buying an eco-friendly product? While many everyday things we buy are not rated for their "green-ness", there are tons that are. You just have to know what to look for! I have written in the past about organic labeling and certification, but......
• Green Building Materials Green Construction is the practice of building in a way that increases efficiency of the use of materials like energy, water and other materials and resources while reducing the impact on human health and the environment during the process of building through more efficient design, site selection, construction, operation, maintenance......
• There Are No Financial Cinderellas With NCAA College Basketball's March Madness in full swing I thought a post about "Cinderellas" would be particularly appropriate. I'm not referring to Cinderella the step-daughter turned Disney princess, I am referring to a dark-horse team, usually from a small conference, that knocks off the top seeds to make a......
• Review: Green Design: A Healthy Home Handbook by Alan Berman This latest book by author and architect Alan Berman is written with environmental sustainability in mind. In his book, Berman describes various ways to make the reader's home a more environmentally friendly place to live. The book is teeming with diagrams, simple charts and photographs, enabling users at any level......
• Hi Man! What? You Still Here? Problem -  a Time Bomb. [/caption] Unfortunately, it's not "the bomb" that's the problem. Today's news that mammals are going extinct at a faster rate than...er...well ever, actually, would hopefully make people sit up and pay attention. Mammals facing extinction threat The last time I looked (warm blood, nipples, live......