[Eric Zencey]

I’ve published a practical, useful definition of sustainability that grows out of the a common-sense definition of the word. Something is sustainable if it doesn’t destroy the preconditions for its own existence–that much is tautological. Observation shows us that human cultures depend on service flows from four kinds of capital: built, natural, social and cultural. If the service flows are robust enough, we can tolerate reductions in these capital stocks (this describes the past two centuries of economic development, as we increased built capital while drawing down the other three); and we may even be able to tolerate permanent reductions in those flows; but no system can be sustainable if its existence requires that it draw down any of these service flows continually. This definition doesn’t mention population specifically, but a little reflection shows that the only systems that meet this definition of sustainable will be steady-state systems–zero population grown and zero increase in matter and energy throughput in their economies.

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