What Is This “Sustainability” Thing?

You’ve probably heard the words “sustainability” and “green” and been a bit confused to what these words refer.  You’re not alone!  These words have many meanings and are often times used in place of each other even though sustainability is a much broader concept than green. Let’s not get caught up in words, let’s talk about what they mean.

“Green” usually refers to concepts that are good for the environment green building with products that are environmentally-friendly, healthy to occupants and minimize construction waste, green energy or power such as using the sun and wind to generate electricity or even green products that don’t use harmful toxics or chemicals or are recyclable.

The concept of sustainability means that our environment matters, people matter (our society) and our economy matters. It is the balance of all of these basic needs now and for our future generations that is important.
The most common definition of sustainability states this balance:  development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, from Our Common Future, a report from the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development.  Sometimes you’ll hear people, planet and profit to explain this balance or in business speak you’ll hear this referred to as the triple bottom line or the three-legged stool.

As an example, at NC State this means we want to be a campus that manages our natural resources such as water, energy and land, provides means for our students, faculty and staff to have jobs and meet their  financial commitments and promotes a healthy, educated and diverse community in which every person has the opportunity to excel.