Environmental Sustainability: A Definition for Environmental Professionals
Journal of Environmental Sustainability
Environmental Sustainability: A Definition for Environmental Professionals
John Morelli 0
0 Rochester Institute of Technology
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Environmental Sustainability:
A Definition for Environmental Professionals
John Morelli
Rochester Institute of Technology
ABSTRACT: While acknowledging the need for “sustainability,” this paper summarizes the
problems that have been encountered in our understanding and use of this concept. It explores the
efforts of others to define the concept within the context of specific disciplinary areas and sets forth
a proposal for a basic understanding of the term “environmental sustainability” as an expansion of
our common perception of the nature of human activity so as to more clearly connect it with the
ecological concept of interdependence and to serve as a goal for environmental managers.
KEYWORDS sustainability. In “The Concept of Environmental Defining Sustainability, Ecological Services, Sustainability,” Robert Goodland substantiates
Environmental Sustainability, Goals of the a history documenting this need, presenting
Environmental Professional, Principles of proponents ranging from Mill and Malthus to
Environmental Sustainability Meadows and Brundtland et al., and puts forth
a definition of “environmental sustainability
I. INTRODUCTION as the maintenance of natural capital” and as a
concept apart from, but connected to, both social
In the middle of the 20th century, we saw our planet sustainability and economic sustainability. These
from space for the first time… From space, we see arguments are not repeated here but rather accepted
a small and fragile ball dominated not by human as valid, supported, and used as a basis from which
activity and edifice but by a pattern of clouds, to proceed to further develop this concept.
oceans, greenery, and soils. Humanity’s inability to
fit its activities into that pattern is changing planetary The problems with “sustainability”
systems, fundamentally. Many such changes are
accompanied by life-threatening hazards. This new
reality, from which there is no escape, must be
recognized - and managed (From One Earth).
On October 6, 2010, the US Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) proposed significant revisions to
its Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing
Claims also known as its “Green Guides,” which
The need for sustainability exists to help marketers avoid making deceptive
claims under Section 5 of the FTC Act. The
There is no question regarding the need for proposal lists five terms that will not be addressed
by the Guides. Number one on that list is the II. DEFINING SUSTAINABILITY
term “sustainable.” The reasons provided for this IN THE CONTEXT OF A
interesting decision include claims that there is no PROFESSION
clear understanding of the term among experts, the
term cannot be defined, and there are no accepted While the concept of sustainability is increasingly
criteria with supporting test methods to measure it discredited as a useful concept by itself, it appears
(Morelli et al., “Sustainable Consumption”). to be serving some purpose when preceded
There has been more than a decade of by a delineating modifier like “ecological” or
struggle with the definition and relevance of the “agricultural” or “economic.” Efforts have been
term among individuals in various professions (see made by members of various professions to give
Toman, Costanza, Mebratu, Vos). A debate exists meaning to the term within the context of those
between those who support a three-legged approach respective professions. Callicott and Mumford, for
(i.e., simultaneously benefitting economy-society- example, develop the meaning of the term “ecological
environment), and those who view it as a relationship sustainability” as a useful concept for conservation
between human society and nature (Robinson). biologists; In “Ecological Sustainability as a
The result is that the concept is now more open to Conservation Concept,” these authors advance an
individual political and philosophical interpretations ecological definition of sustainability that connects
than to scientific definition (Robinson). human needs and ecosystem services: “meeting
Even less progress in defining this concept human needs without compromising the health
appears to have been made by the organizations of ecosystems.” They propose this concept as a
that employ “sustainability” professionals. guiding principle for areas where human activities
“Sustainability” was recently identified in an annual take place.
guide to corporate newspeak as one of the most In “Economic Sustainability and the
abused terms in the corporate vernacular (“Urban Preservation of Environmental Assets,” Foy
Intelligence Network”). The term has become a explains that from an economic standpoint,
corporate buzzwo (...truncated)