{"id":11,"date":"2013-04-25T10:06:30","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T14:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ramapo.edu\/ramapo-green\/?page_id=11"},"modified":"2025-02-19T13:23:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T18:23:39","slug":"sustainability","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ramapo.edu\/ramapo-green\/sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainability Defined"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Working Definition of Sustainability<\/h3>\n

We KNOW That Sustainability is WAY MORE than Environmentalism<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although Ramapo College DOES value recycling, we are VERY AWARE that recycling alone is not going to make things right.\u00a0 Environmentalism is NECESSARY–it is very far from being sufficient.<\/p>\n

Here’s what “sustainability” means to us, and why we are certain our lives ACTUALLY depend upon it.\u00a0 Not as hyperbole, but as blunt fact.\u00a0 We don’t believe “we” are “destroying the planet”.\u00a0 It will destroy us long before we get CLOSE to destroying it.\u00a0 It is pure hubris to think we CAN “destroy the planet”.<\/p>\n

If it was just the environment, we would not need<\/b> sustainability advocacy.\u00a0 We’d do fine with environmental advocacy.<\/p>\n

But when we care about sustainability
\nwe certainly DO care about the environment\u2026!<\/p>\n

But we never lose sight of:<\/p>\n

<\/b><\/b>Prosperity
\nPeople
\nPlanet
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Taken Together
\nNow, and Into the Future\u2026!<\/p>\n

This\u00a0is the frame<\/strong>,
\nfrom inside of which,
\nwe believe\u00a0all choices<\/strong> should be made.<\/p>\n

\n

Why sustainability is NOT merely environmentalism<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sustainability broadly reflects the recognition that our actions today affect our prospects for tomorrow, and increasingly, these actions will affect the quality of life and prospects for future generations.<\/em><\/h4>\n

We take sustainability to be an attitude, a world view, a holistic way of thinking about ourselves in the context of the ecosphere. At its heart, sustainability is a reaction to the single-bottom line thinking that undergirds the vast majority of our societal decision making\u2014in that we tend to show an inordinate deference to monetary value, and often disregard the social and ecological costs of our decisions. In this sense, sustainability is about triple-bottom line thinking, a way of making decisions that gives due consideration to profit, people and planet.<\/p>\n

\n

A Stricter Bottom Line<\/h4>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Profit becomes a design requirement for the transactional world, but not the objective.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

Sustainability requires that those resources which contribute to human welfare be managed such that they are conserved or improved for future generations [1]. Many of the natural resources we consume are finite and non-renewable on human timescales (e.g., fossil & nuclear fuels, minerals), whilst some renewable resources are becoming nonrenewable due to unsustainable use (e.g., fisheries, water, forests, soils) [2,3]. Sustainable development must convert the currently unsustainable practices in industrialized nations to sustainable ones, as well as improve standards of living in developing countries in a sustainable manner [4]. Lifestyles which minimize needless consumption and waste are essential for sustainability.<\/p>\n

Ecological sustainability centers on stewardship of resources, ecosystems, the preservation of biodiversity, and natural processes (e.g., ecological succession, microevolution) [5]. A sustainable global economy will be achieved when:<\/p>\n

Rates of use of renewable resources do not exceed regeneration rates; rates of use of nonrenewable resources do not exceed rates of development of renewable substitutes; [and] rates of pollution emission do not exceed assimilative capacities of the environment. [6]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Socially, sustainability reflects actions that promote community, relationship to place, cultural diversity, and maintenance of local knowledge, equity, environmental justice, self-worth, and non-violence [7].<\/p>\n

Sustainability is a Guiding Principle for Ramapo College<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\n

All strategic goals and objectives must be consistent with the commitment to environmental, social, and economic sustainability by the College. [8]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Ramapo\"<\/div>\n
<\/i><\/i><\/i><\/span>References<\/div>
\n
    \n
  1. Kennedy, D. (2007). Sustainability.\u00a0Science<\/em>, 315<\/em>(5812), p. 573. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.1139909<\/li>\n
  2. National Research Council. (2006). Dynamic Changes in Marine Ecosystems: Fishing, Food Webs, and Future Options.<\/em> Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.17226\/11608<\/li>\n
  3. Brown,\u00a0L.\u00a0R.\u00a0(2006).\u00a0Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble. <\/em>New York: Norton.<\/li>\n
  4. Holdren, J. P. (2007). Energy and Sustainability. Science<\/em>, 315<\/em>(5813), p. 737. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.1139792<\/li>\n
  5. Karlin, E. (2001). Dynamic Aspects of Sustainability. In R.C. Dorf (Ed.), Technology, Humans, and Society<\/em> (pp. 23\u201329). San Diego: Academic Press.<\/li>\n
  6. Daly, H. (1996). Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development.<\/em> Boston: Beacon Press.<\/li>\n
  7. Edelstein, M. (2007).<\/li>\n
  8. Ramapo College of New Jersey. Strategic Plan 2007-2012.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Our Working Definition of Sustainability We KNOW That Sustainability is WAY MORE than Environmentalism Although Ramapo College DOES value recycling, we are VERY AWARE that recycling alone is not going to make things right.\u00a0 Environmentalism is NECESSARY–it is very far from being sufficient. Here’s what “sustainability” means to us, and why we are certain our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nSustainability Defined - Ramapo Green || Ramapo College of New Jersey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sustainability broadly reflects the recognition that our actions today affect our prospects for tomorrow, and increasingly, these actions will affect the quality of life and prospects for future generations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ramapo.edu\/ramapo-green\/sustainability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sustainability Defined\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sustainability broadly reflects the recognition that our actions today affect our prospects for tomorrow, and increasingly, these actions will affect the quality of life and prospects for future generations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ramapo.edu\/ramapo-green\/sustainability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ramapo Green\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RamapoCollege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-19T18:23:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ramapo.edu\/ramapo-green\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2023\/03\/planet-people-prosperity-chart.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ramapocollegenj\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ramapo.edu\/ramapo-green\/sustainability\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ramapo.edu\/ramapo-green\/sustainability\/\",\"name\":\"Sustainability Defined - 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