ABSTRACT
The term sustainability has many different meanings to different people. To sustain is dened as to “support without collapse” (Theodore and Theodore 2010; Skipka and Theodore 2014). Discussion of how sustainability should be dened was initiated by the Bruntland Commission. This group was assigned a mission to create a “global agenda for change” by the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in 1984. They dened sustainable very broadly (Theodore and Theodore 2010): Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable-to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In a very real sense, “sustainability” involves simultaneous progress in four major areas: human, economic, technological, and environmental. The United Nations (1987) dened sustainable development as development that meets the need of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainability requires conservation of resources, minimizing depletion of nonrenewable resources, and using sustainable practices for managing renewable resources. There can be no product development or economic activity of any kind without available resources. Except for solar energy, the supply of resources is nite. Efcient designs conserve resources while also reducing impacts caused by material extraction and related activities. Depletion of nonrenewable resources and overuse of otherwise renewable resources limit their availability to future generations.
