What does it mean to live in a sustainable way?
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The United Nations says that sustainability means ‘meeting the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. In other words, people living today shouldn’t use up the world’s resources so that there are none left for those who live after us.
To sustain something simply means to keep it going. There are many people living on planet Earth - over 7.8 billion and counting! - and they all need certain things to survive. As a bare minimum, people need food, water and somewhere to live. All of these needs have to be met by the resources that are available on the planet. If we use up resources that can’t be replaced, or we carry out practices that harm the planet faster than it can recover, this is not sustainable.
When we talk about living in a sustainable way we are generally talking about developing ways to live that don’t harm the environment, or that cause the lowest possible impact on it. Living sustainably means that people try...
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