Sustainability has increasingly become a topic of importance in today’s society. But what does sustainability truly mean in our everyday lives and what can we do to implement these core values? In today’s episode, we are going to explore the concept of sustainability more deeply to better understand what it means to focus on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In this episode we will uncover what sustainability is, and how can we put it into practice. We will talk about the roots of sustainability in the term “sustainable development,” the three different pillars of sustainability, environmental, social, and economic, and we will also discuss what it might look like in our day-to-day lives. I will also unpack a few examples of sustainability that I have seen in my own life, through a variety of different snapshots including one that involves a toilet — which is more of a romance story! Let’s dive into the show to see how we can explore today’s topic and how it is not only good for the planet and ourselves but so that we can truly flourish!

Key Points From This Episode:

•    Understanding sustainability and what it looks like in our everyday lives.

•    Sustainable development: Defining sustainability with regards to development.

•    The three-legged sustainability stool: Environment, Social and Economic.

•    A closer look at the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

•    Exploring the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and accompanied suggestions. 

•    The importance of sustainability being conceived of in a local context.

•    We talk through an example of local context and sustainability.

•    5 Different snapshots of sustainability that I have found in my life.

Tweetables:

“There is a nice quote about how development interacts with what we are doing. ‘The environment is where we live, and development is what we all do in attempting to improve our lot within that abode. The two are inseparable.’” — Kristina Hunter [0:02:47]

“We have to understand that sustainability should be and must be part of all development that we think about. And that’s really the foundation of the modern understanding of sustainability and sustainable development. It has often been characterized as thinking about it as a three-legged stool. Where those legs are environment, social and economic sustainability and when they are all coming together and balanced then we have sustainability.” — Kristina Hunter [0:03:05]

“There is a definite need for sustainability to be situated in place. We really need to think carefully about where we are when we talk about sustainability because it needs to include the environmental context as well as that social, cultural, economic and political context.” — Kristina Hunter [0:14:10] 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Kristina Hunter

Kristina Hunter Flourish — Defining Sustainability 

Our Common Future Document 1987 United Nations

2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

United Nations Goal Tracker