ABSTRACT

The term “sustainability” has different meanings to different people. To sustain is deŸned as to “support without collapse.” Discussion of how sustainability should be deŸned 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 in 1984. They deŸned sustainability very broadly: Humanity has the ability to make development sustainableto 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.