In this article, we explore the meaning and implications of Sustainability
What is Sustainability? Common sense and dictionary definitions usually say that it means at least to be able to maintain a separate existence. Find pointers to definitions and the concept here 
. In practice, most of us would probably agree that sustainability boils down to staying alive, that our families, neighorhoods and countries are thriving, and to have a good life.
This understanding of sustainability implies that we distinguish one or more units of observation, and that this unit is able to maintain certain qualities over a period of time.
The highest level at which we can assign a concrete meaning to sustainability is the global or planetary level. Assuming that we assume the continued existance of our planet as given in the long term, planetary or global sustainability essentially means the sustainability of the human species. From this we infer that sustainability of the human species means, first and foremost, that we are able to maintain the minimum concitions for human life. This implies a certain minimum condition of land, water, food, and shelter. At a global level, it is possible to calculate how much ecological resources would be necessary to keeping population growth at at least the level of not declining in numbers.
Next, most of us would agree that sustainability means more to us than merely staying barely alive. We generally ondersider creating, accumulating and using our wealth to lead a good life. Our concept of sustainability includes the ability to satisfy our needs and wants. In other words, maintaining a certain stability or even improvement of social relationships and the satisfaction of our personal wants and needs as a minimum condition to consider our life, livelihood and societies as being 'sustainable'.
Understanding sustainability as the ability to realize personal and social needs and wants poses a number of problems. First, human wants are needs are endless. Second, global human population numbers go up, so that whatever limited resources we have must be shared with potentially more and more people. And third, resources and conditions for the life we need and want are unequally available and unequally accessible
Consequences of these problems are that human needs are never all fulfilled for all. We may even argue that they are in principle not fulfillable for all, as a characteristic of human existence. Resources, ideas, talents and opportunities are unequally distributed. This creates excess and scarcity of resources and opportunities; it creates trade and prices; it creates the need for a common denominator to express prices in (money, time, service); it creates strategies and policies of groups of people to get what they think they need or want but don't have. And it creates the need and the opportunity to get rid of things that groups have in excess, and that they can trade for other things they want. Inequality of resources and conditions may be substituted by other inequalities, and inequalities are an essential characteristic of human and social life.
We conclude from the above-mentioned observations and arguments that the conditions for sustainability at a global level may be established in a quantiative and technically objective way. This would help us to establish the lower threshold for extinction of humanity. But it would not suffice as a concept to guide us regarding how to keep our social, economic and cultural life sustainable.
The second conclusion is that we need to find a way to arrive at sustainable lives, neighborhoods, cities and countries addressing both the scarcity-excess problem, as well the problem of finding conditions for a good life for all. Social action aimed at achieving sustainability needs to deal with scarcity and excess, unlimited needs and wants, and inequality of (access to) resources, talents and opportunities available to people, neighborhoods, cities, countries and the global society at large. This begs the question of how to create legitimate ways to address these issues. Politics is the science and practice of the legimate distribution of value.
To arrive at effective policies and actions at country, organizational or area level, the planetary minimum conditions for sustainability need to be translated into local contexts. Scaling down, however, is often more a matter of socio-political and geo-political agreement than a matter of scientific boundaries: who gets to absorb what part of the necessary investments for sustainable transformation, and who decides about that?
Since a large part of sustainability is politics, speaking about Sustainability is speaking about The Politics of Sustainability. A sustainability claim, a sustainable policy or any proposal to become more sustainable cannot be separated from its political assumptions and implications.
Sustainable Development and Sustainability are both object and consequence of legitimization and political systems. Their concepts and realities exist in and through social institutions and culture. They are not value-free, and cannot be defined in an objective and science-based view.
Go back to Sustainable Development.