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The Principles of Sustainability


Before creating your vision for sustainability, you must understand the four necessary system conditions and how to integrate them into your vision. The conditions are stated in the negative to create the constraints within which creativity can flourish. They are:

In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing: To move toward strategic sustainability, we must:

 

concentrations of substances extracted from the earth’s crust

 

Substitute minerals that are scarce in nature with others that are more abundant.
Use all mined materials efficiently.
Reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

 

concentrations of substances produced by society

 

Substitute persistent and unnatural compounds with ones that are normally abundant or break down more easily in nature.
Use all substances produced by society efficiently.

 

degradation by physical means

 

Draw resources only from well-managed ecosystems.
Pursue the most productive and efficient use of both those resources and the land.
Exercise caution in all kinds of modifications of nature (i.e. over harvesting or introductions).

 

and people are not subject to conditions that systematically undermine their capacity to meet their needs

 

Create and support action and policies that allow people to meet their fundamental human needs in our society and worldwide so that the needs of all people on whom we have an impact, and the future needs of our children can be met.

 

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