Sustainability feels like such a big concept. While sustainability has been a concern for a long time, improving and maintaining sustainable best practices can be challenging. It’s easy to get overwhelmed.
One tool that environmental leaders are using to help people, businesses, and governments take steps toward more sustainable practices is the “Pillars of Sustainability.” It breaks sustainability into three intertwined categories:
- Social Sustainability (people)
- Economic Sustainability (profit)
- Environmental Sustainability (Planet)
These pillars offer a framework for individuals, businesses, and other groups to create solutions-oriented approaches to complex sustainability issues.
What Is Sustainability?
To understand the “Three Pillars of Sustainability,” we must start with a good working definition of sustainability.
One common explanation of sustainability is “ensuring that the current generations of people can meet their needs without jeopardizing future generations’ ability to meet their own needs.” In short, we can sustain ourselves without causing current or future harm.
Intersectionality and Sustainability
Intersectionality is a term used to describe how systems of inequality like racism, classism, sexism, or other forms of discrimination “intersect” to create unique dynamics and effects.
While this term usually refers to inequalities and injustices between different groups of people, we can also apply the concept to sustainability.
Sustainability is a complex topic because environmental problems cannot be solved in isolation from other issues. For example, when a country’s economy is unstable, that country may be forced to cut back on environmental goals. War and poverty can dramatically affect the environment as communities prioritize other needs.
This means that our work toward sustainability intersects with other justice issues like poverty, war, food security, and many other human and environmental rights.
The three pillars of sustainability help identify and address those areas of intersectionality, ultimately leading to conditions in which humans and nature can thrive.
The Three Pillars of Sustainability
Surprisingly, there is no clear origin story for the Three Pillars of Sustainability. The pillars are thought to have evolved over time in economic, environmental, and social academic literature. They became a part of the mainstream environmental activist culture in the 1980s.
While there are several variations of the Three Pillars of Sustainability, the goal is to create a high-quality life and a thriving society that lives in balance with the environment rather than depleting resources.
People–Social Sustainability
The Social Sustainability pillar focuses on people. It includes efforts toward human health, education, resource security, and other critical elements of a healthy socio-economic environment.
Overall, this pillar focuses on cultivating economic and social benefits and environmental sustainability. It includes public policies, planning, and regulations that support social justice issues like fighting poverty, ensuring access to healthcare, sustainable community development, and much more.
Wars, crime, unethical practices, and unjust policies waste valuable resources and allow destructive activities to continue.
One example of social sustainability is access to healthcare. Many health-related issues are connected to environmental and economic concerns. Factories releasing toxic chemicals into the air harm the environment and create health concerns for surrounding communities.
The World Health Organization has even said sustainability is impossible without addressing health-related issues.
Another example of social sustainability is changing the way cities are landscaped. Concrete and asphalt absorb heat from the sun and artificially raise the temperature in the area. Trees and other natural vegetation help cool the environment and reduce urban “heat islands.”
Hot temperatures are especially hazardous for the elderly, the sick, the very young, and the poor in our communities who have no access to air conditioning. Lowering surface and air temperatures in the city can prevent heat-related deaths and improve the quality of life for urban dwellers.
Cultural dynamics and religion are also crucial in cultivating sustainable practices. People’s beliefs, religion, and culture can be powerful tools in fighting for sustainability. Involving religious leaders like Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama in the sustainability effort is a valuable step toward fostering cultures that value sustainability as a principle.
Profit – Economic Sustainability
Surprisingly, corporate social responsibility can boost a company’s bottom line. For example, recycling valuable materials like electronic or textile waste can lower a business’s operating costs and reduce harmful resource extraction.
The current economic model is still based on the idea of “infinite exponential growth.” But that’s not realistic. We must consider that environmental resources cannot sustain infinite growth if we deplete them.
The Economic Sustainability pillar seeks to balance economic viability and profit with environmental conservation. A business needs to be economically viable for it to be sustainable. There also needs to be incentives and motivation to adopt more sustainable practices.
Many tools are available to incentivize (or enforce) more sustainable business practices. Government regulations can help incorporate environmental damages into the price of products or services. Some governments are considering imposing additional taxes on unsustainable practices, excessive waste, or damaging emissions.
We can celebrate some encouraging movements in the area of economic sustainability. Many businesses are working to improve the perception of their brand by adopting more sustainable practices. More people are “voting with their money” to support companies with sustainable business practices. This is an encouraging development that incentivizes change.
Planet–Environmental Sustainability
Environmental Sustainability focuses on everything from water quality and rainforest conservation to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The well-being of the whole environment is critical for human health and sustainability.
A healthy environment can provide valuable resources for many generations. But an unhealthy environment can lead to scarcity.
The Environmental Sustainability pillar balances conservation with the demand for resources. Includes efforts like regulations and laws that guide the management of land, air, natural resources, wildlife, forests, and water.
For example, environmental conservation incentivizes the adoption of sustainable waste management. The current model for waste disposal is “linear,” meaning that trash goes to a landfill. A “circular waste management” path incorporates recycling or reusing as much waste as possible.
Other environmental sustainability efforts include:
- Reducing CO2 emissions.
- Adopting renewable energy sources.
- Promoting sustainable agriculture practices.
- Advocating for healthier diets that use fewer animal resources.
- Planning more sustainable urban areas.
Environmental science and conservation biology are essential tools to help manage valuable natural resources. As more people adopt sustainable practices in their personal lives, it’s easier to reduce our overall ecological footprint.
Overall, these Three Pillars of Sustainability cultivate a better understanding of sustainability. They highlight the reality that we all have a part to play in sustainability and provide guidelines to evaluate the sustainability of countries, businesses, products, and practices.
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Works Cited
https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/sustainability-society-and-you/0/steps/4618
https://www.treehugger.com/what-are-the-three-pillars-of-sustainability-5189295
https://sustainabilityscout.com/the-three-pillars-of-sustainability-explained/
https://meuresiduo.com/en/blog-en/understand-the-three-pillars-of-sustainability/
