Sustainability is a way of working and living that balances immediate needs for commerce, living, habitation, food, transportation, energy and entertainment with future needs for these resources and systems as well as the liveliness and support of nature, natural resources and future generations.

Sustainability addresses human and natural systems (such as social justice, meaningful experiences, social values, biodiversity, ecosystem services and lifecycle food chains) as well as economic systems (such as market viability, profit and returns) in order to meet needs and desires without endangering the viability of future generations or endeavors. It is similar to the "seventh generation" philosophy of the Native American Iroquis Confederacy, mandating that chiefs always consider the effects of their actions on their descendents seven generations in the future.
- Presidio Graduate School

Sustainable Development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
- Brundtland World Commission on the Environment and Development

Sustainable development is a process which enables all people to realize their potential and improve their quality of life in ways which protect and enhance the Earth's life-support systems.
- Jonathan Porritt, Forum for the Future

Continuous improvement of life quality that protects and balances the ecological, social and economic environments.
- California Student Sustainability Coalition

Diverse and rewarding lifestyles that many would want to emulate, and if they all did, the planet's natural systems and wildlife populations would flourish, increasingly, each generation.

Satisfying lives for all people while living within the means of nature. This requires that people do not use more ecological services than nature can regenerate.
- Randy Hayes, International Forum on Globalization

Asocially and environmentally sustainable business produces a product or provides a service in a manner that nurtures contributors to the processes of production, human and otherwise, and nurtures the consumer, while earning a return on investment sufficient to support the financial viability of the enterprise. Socially, production processes do not degrade the value of the comfort and health of producers and collateral inhabitants, or under-compensate the time workers contribute with the intention of providing for themselves and families in a manner adequate for their environment. Environmentally, production processes do not harvest or purge in a manner diminishing Earth's reproductive integrity. Those businesses most systemically sustainable tend to have germinated organically from ideals, as opposed to subsequently infusing sustainable principles.
- Beatrice Barr, Presidio School of Management Graduate

More Definitions

Ever wondered what a negawatt was? Does your skins get all itchy at the mention of mips? Never known why a keystone species was important? Wrinkle your brow at the thought of reverse logistics? Frown no more. These, and 262 other such terms bandied about by the sustainability movement, have been neatly assembled into a searchable dictionary. Aimed at business leaders and students, the Dictionary of Sustainable Management project is a labor of love created by MBA students at Presidio Graduate School.