ABSTRACT
Human activity (anthropogenic) is essentially the cause of environmental degradation. In as much as human activity is necessary for a minimal standard of living, it is justified. Accordingly, much of the degradation that is caused in the process of such human activity is warranted. This lays down the basis for the notion of sustainability. If current economic activity causes degradation of the environment beyond such justifiable limits it compromises the health, standard of living and the very existence of future generations.
Thus the applicability of the notion of sustainability has ultimately got to be universal and refer to the indefinite future. Germane to this whole argument is the notion that sustainability involves a switch in consumption possibilities both across space at a point in time and from the present to the future. When we say that a contemporaneous profile of consumption is not sustainable, then it probably means that a switch in consumption either spatially and/or over time would improve global welfare, again perceived as a magnitude referring to the indefinite future.
(Jha and Murthy, 2000)