According to dictionary definitions, sustainability means,   "the ability to support, or hold up, without degradation or failure for an indefinitely long period."

     To determine the "sustainability" of a village, or a total culture, one needs to determine its ability to continue pursuing its various activities without destroying or seriously compromising its own supporting environment. A useful time period to consider is at least a thousand years, since a smaller time period does not really address "sustainable" in its true sense.

     The human activities that need to be investigated to determine sustainability are the ordinary categories including food, water, clothing, shelter, energy, healthcare, transportation, education, government, and so forth. Sadly, there is almost nothing that contemporary industrialized peoples do in their efforts to satisfy these pursuits that can be continued indefinitely without serious, irreversible resource depletion and environmental damage.

     Sustainability with respect to human activity has also been defined as: "the integration of human settlements together with nature so as to meet the requirements of humanity in ways that preserve, upgrade, enrich and evolve the biosphere" (from "With Earth in Mind", by David Orr). Regardless of which definition one uses, the inescapable conclusion is that to actually be sustainable means that human culture must be able to continue doing whatever it is engaged in for a very long time, without destroying or degrading its home.

     Sustainability is inherent in the balance found in on-going natural systems, and is pointed to by the word "ecology", as the meaning of ecology is essentially "the rules of the household." Our 'greater'
 household is planet Earth, and its sphere of life and life products make up its biosphere. The continuance of life on Earth depends upon the sustainability of the intricate web of ecosystems which serve as recycling agents to keep the atmosphere, water, and soils in proper condition for life of the biosphere to prosper. Historically sustainable communities are viable, renewable and stable over time.

     Sustainability does not necessarily imply self-sufficiency. They are quite different conditions and independent of each other. Self-sufficiency does not mean that a community must necessarily produce all of its needs, or consume all of its products. It does means that community functions are balanced in a productive interchange between its own parts, and with those of other communities. However, the greater the degree of self-sufficiency a community has with respect to any activity, resource, or product, the easier it is to calculate the extent of its sustainability.

     To determine the degree of sustainability of anything that is not extracted, created, or locally grown, requires gathering extensive information about how the item was produced or manufactured, what its ingredients are, and so on. It includes what was done with the wastes generated, the packaging, the energy used in shipping to the local community. Thus, it is obvious that sustainability is much easier to calculate for any thing that is locally produced from start to finish.

     As an example, to determine whether the making of a wool sweater has been done sustainably, there must be a thorough investigation of the energy and methods used to feed and pasture the sheep, shear, card, spin, dye, wash, weave or knit the wool. The methods and by-products of producing the dyes, transporting raw materials and finished goods must be factored in, as well as the energy and materials used in advertising, packaging, transporting, marketing, and retailing the final product.

     When closely examined, it is difficult to find any contemporary growing, processing, manufacturing, or marketing activity that can be continued without serious environmental degradation or destruction over time, and often the time period until environmental degradation is short.

     Assuming sustainability to be a valid goal, we should be greatly concerned, since there is almost no aspect of human endeavor, anywhere in the modern world, being conducted where true sustainability is integrated into the processes in a practical way. We have a long way to go to reach a sustainable life-style, but it is imperative that we do.

     There are semantic pitfalls present in any attempt to briefly define a complex concept, and when trying to "do the right thing" ecologically, it is only possible to work with what seem at present to be "ecological truths". We always need to investigate fully so that the information available to us is as valid as possible, and also that the information we do have is understood correctly. We are all familiar with the phenomenon in the history of science where today's truth becomes tomorrow's absurdity, such as the statement, "Heavier than air flight is not possible!"

     This, then, is the challenge of the word
sustainable as applied to human activity and human habitation. The primary questions seem to be:

     1) Can we actually do "sustainable," and can we do it quickly enough?
     2) What will we need to give up from the last 10,000 years of human effort?
     3) Will we give these things up intelligently, willingly, and gracefully? We at Natural Systems Developers view these as the critical issues of our times and are committed to addressing them at a village or town level.