GC: n
CT: Environmental sustainability involves making decisions and taking action that are in the interests of protecting the natural world, with particular emphasis on preserving the capability of the environment to support human life. It is an important topic at the present time, as people are realising the full impact that businesses and individuals can have on the environment.
Environmental sustainability is about making responsible decisions that will reduce your business’ negative impact on the environment. It is not simply about reducing the amount of waste you produce or using less energy, but is concerned with developing processes that will lead to businesses becoming completely sustainable in the future.
S: SBC – http://toolkit.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au/part/17/86/371 (last access: 28 December 2014)
N: 1. environmental (adj): 1887, “environing, surrounding,” from environment + -al. Ecological sense by 1967. Related: Environmentally (1884).
sustainability (n): 1907, in reference to a legal objection, from sustainable + -ity. General sense (in economics, agriculture, ecology) by 1972.
Sustainability is defined as a requirement of our generation to manage the resource base such that the average quality of life that we ensure ourselves can potentially be shared by all future generations. … Development is sustainable if it involves a non-decreasing average quality of life. (Geir B. Asheim, “Sustainability,” The World Bank, 1994).
2. Environmental sustainability is the rates of renewable resource harvest, pollution creation, and non-renewable resource depletion that can be continued indefinitely. If they cannot be continued indefinitely then they are not sustainable.
3. A characteristic of a process or state that can be maintained indefinitely. Source 4, fiche 1, Anglais, Définition 1 – sustainability
4. (The term is) used in, for example, agriculture and forestry to designate management methods designated to ensure that the productive yield of an ecosystem is maintained undiminished for the benefit of future generation. Source 5, fiche 1, Anglais, Observation 1 – sustainability
5. sustainability; environmental sustainability: terms used by Parks Canada.
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=environmental&searchmode=none (last access: 28 December 2014). 2. http://www.thwink.org/sustain/glossary/EnvironmentalSustainability.htm; http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=sustainability&searchmode=none (last access: 28 December 2014). 3, 4 & 5. TERMIUMPLUS.
SYN: sustainability, ecological sustainability
S: TERMIUMPLUS
