International relations/political science Essay

Global Terrorism In the September 11, 2001 attack, commonly known as 9/11, is made up of series of suicide attacks wherein hijackers or terrorists hijacked four commercial airlines. An airline was used to damage, if not totally destroy Pentagon, another was crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The remaining two airplanes were crashed directly at the World Trade Center. Great infrastructures were damaged and a lot of losses were incurred, not only material things but the lives of thousand individuals. As such, this event had raised the spirits of so many people in combating terrorist attacks. Indeed, there is a wide spread determination to end the terror everywhere, but this does not mean that success would be fully attained. It had inspired people to do something against the terrorists, and it’s a good thing. The government, the military and even civilians wanted to eliminate terrorists. But as a consequence, the chances of committing errors or fallacies also increase. Some people resort to drastic or rushed measures of combating the terror without sufficient data or evidences leading to wrong moves or mistaken identities. Suspicion also increases within communities, and in the end, instead of reducing terror today, it just only increases it by spreading fear amongst people. Financial support coming from a lot of sources definitely helps in funding attacks, manpower and weaponries. As they say, money can talk. If an terrorists organization has a lot of financial sources that they could use, then it would be really easy for them to collect data, weapons and other tools for battle, therefore increasing their chance of spreading bigger attacks. As such, cutting off their financial sources would greatly disrupt their activities. Their mobility and rate or number of attacks would be decreased, if not totally lost. But this is not the only thing that should be considered. Aside from the financial sources, terrorists groups have their own principles and beliefs. This powers them, aside from money. Take for example a suicide attack. Even if a lot of money is given to these terrorists conducting such attacks, if they don’t have the will or spirit to do it, they won’t do it for money; money which they can’t really use afterwards. Also, if a terrorist is greatly motivated to attack, suicide attempts would have higher chances to be conducted even if funded poorly. The concentric circles of the global Jihadist Movement are really noteworthy. It gives a solid proof or blueprint of the perspective organizations within and outside their Movement. This may not be able to tell which specific people to catch or hunt but it gives an idea of how their organization works. Learning these things or information would greatly help in formulating or creating tactics or methods on how to defeat them. In parallel to fishing, it is best to catch the small fish first before the big one. In addition to this, catching a fish requires not only skills and equipment but also the knowledge on the behavior of what you are going to catch. The Concentric Circles of the Global Jihadist Movement gives a description of that blueprint which is very crucial in dealing with these organizations. Generally, the descriptions and the â€Å"blueprint† itself is basic or simple, but still a noteworthy information to obtain or understand. The files which were collected regarding the Al-Qaeda show or give an information or proof that their organization is indeed well-organized and well planned. Upon reading the contents, a terrorist member, feeling the same sympathies and situation like the people who made such documents, would be greatly moved and motivated to act against the government and participate in terrorists attacks or movements. Furthermore, it empowers their minds that violence is not a wrong deed or action. It gives them the support that they need to battle their conscience in doing what is morally good or right. For them, terrorists attacks or the actions which they plan to do is the right one and the one that would benefit most people, even if they had to risk their lives. It rests on the power, hope and faith that they have for their god therefore giving them the idea that they are divine warriors who cannot be stopped. They strongly believe that what they are doing is right and in the name of their god. Information Revolution vis a vis Sovereignty, International System and Global Governance Information revolution greatly increases the feeling of one, group of people especially a state’s sovereignty. If one state understands and knows what it is dealing with, then it gives him a higher chance to perform or implement preemptive measures or actions. If overdone, it could give too much feeling of sovereignty which when shattered, could lead to fear, panic or disastrous consequences. Though somehow, it would strengthen the state. As such, the international system of states and global governance would be stricter. It would enforce more power and rule over the laws. As such, new laws and set of regulations would be formulated. Policies would also be enhanced to deal even with the simplest to the most complex situations as based on the information retrieved. Counter intelligence could be considered as a powerful weapon in the information revolution. Civilian education for military officers and leaders is very crucial and is necessary for it enhances their capabilities and education when it comes to leading their subordinates. Civilian education also gives them more educational opportunities all the way through their careers and service for their countries. Competent and confident leaders can be attained through civilian education and these leaders have more capabilities in decision-making and in handling problems or emergencies. Agile leaders with improved instincts and improved knowledge on tactics and technicalities could also be achieved through civilian education. Civilian leaders with military education or experience have the best field in a battle or advantage against the enemy, but his ability to lead should also be considered. Military books and courses may indeed teach a lot of principles, basics and techniques on how to be great leaders, but experience hones better leaders who can react immediately on different situations and would have better chances of making good decisions. References International Terrorism: The Concentric Circles of the Global Jihadist Movement (Publication. Retrieved December 21, 2007: Progress in the War on Terrorist Financing (Publication. (September 11, 2003). Retrieved December 21, 2007: (Publication. (The Al-Qaeda Manual). Retrieved December 21, 2007.

The Endless Shildhood Of Christopher Mccandless English Literature Essay

One of my friends is so annoyed at society that he decides to swim across the Pacific Ocean in the dark with 60 lbs of rice. What would you experience about this friend of mine? Is he a airy, or merely a psycho? Krakauer ‘s book â€Å" Into the Wild † A is a existent narrative about such an highly idealistic immature adult male, Christopher McCandless, who behaved precisely like my friend. McCandless leaves his comfort zone to go through some of those black and bare countries to seek his intimacy to nature as a manner of demoing his ripening. Tragically, he is wounded in Alaska, deep in the forests, and dies in an derelict Fairbanks metropolis coach where he camps out. So does Christopher McCandless truly turn up? Some people regard him as a hero, stating what he did interrupt an unseeable concatenation that sentimentally locks him up, and the load he feels from his parents and society. He goes on to happen his ain manner, though non the same manner as we normally do. Even though he ne'er succeeds, he deserves our regard since one has to hold an tremendous bravery to step out of the safety and the societal parturiency. But what I think, there is nil romantic about him, running off from the universe, wholly unprepared, merely for penalizing his parents and all of those who â€Å" do n't understand † ? His narrative is tragic and thought provoking, non romantic. I merely feel sorry for his household. Krakauer mentioned a batch of similar unattached immature work forces who runs off from their household trusting to happen happiness and peace in the wild, or possibly merely to pull attending. â€Å" Entering the wilderness purposefully ill-prepared, and lasting a near-death experience does non do you a better homo, it makes you curse lucky † . ( Krakauer, page 71 ) Almost to everyone, those are troublesome childs, wholly idealistic, and unprepared to last on their ain. Harmonizing to writers all of them about stop up died in similar state of affairss. Comparing to McCandless and those cats, Wayne Westerberg at the maize factory is what adulthood is truly approximately. For Chris, the poulet in the microwave is a good illustration ; it ‘s the â€Å" romantic † semblance that causes many work forces like Chris to lose their lives. Again like Wayne Westerberg who thinks of and care about everyone, adulthood is about loving and caring for others. Christopher McCandless does non understand the significance of love. He unwisely chooses to walk into the shrubs for a self-destructive decease. After graduation, he disappeared, left his household in choler. Mature people would ne'er make that to others they love, even if they have jobs with them. Would it be that difficult to drop a message, to give a phone call, or merely make anything? Chris could merely state, â€Å" I ‘m still alive, and I ‘ve decided to populate off route for a piece, but I will ever be in touch. â€Å" A Yet he â€Å" gives off a little luck, abandon a loving household, abandoned his auto, ticker and map and burned the last of his money before shleping off into the ‘wilderness ‘ West of Healy † ( Krakauer, page 71 ) , which would merely do his household think something bad had happened. All those actions are non epic, and surely non inspirational. He does n't convey a compass, neither does he brings a elaborate map, but sardonically he chooses to populate in this coach. He can ne'er happen a manner to truly flight from the society. He will merely remain in the charming coach for a short 112 yearss, and die anonymously for that. ( Sparknotes ) He ne'er values his life plenty to hold on merely a few basic accomplishments to last, so how can we state he is mature? What truly inspirational are people or heroes who live in the natural state but still care about people they love. Dick Proenneke is one of them, who started his venture in theA wilderness of Alaska when he was already past 50. He finally used fundamental tools to construct a cabin, ate what he hunted, fished or grown, etc. And he lasted it for 30 old ages. Even though he had a guy bead him supplies, what he did was still truly inspirational. He frequently went back to see his household, sharing his love for the out-of-doorss and adventure.A ( Wikipedia ) Compared with Dick Proenneke, Chris is much more of a cockamamie male child. He has ne'er had a elaborate program to travel back or any supply backup. I ne'er mean to be violative to the McCandless household, but any one with limited resource life in the wild alone is a self-destructive effort, although I ‘m certain they ‘ve ( his household members ) shared with the same ideas. ( Endnotes ) In any dictionary, we can happen similar accounts to the word â€Å" mature † . It is â€Å" one that is to the full developed or ripe. † ( Oxford English Dictionary ) But how can we specify that we are to the full developed? We begin our internal growing the twenty-four hours we come to the Earth. As clip goes by, our experience accumulates, but we still run into new challenges, new troubles and new escapades. We are ne'er experienced plenty to cover with all those fresh things we confront. So, what is existent mature? In my sentiment, to be mature is to act responsibly, to face challenges carefully, and to love people wholeheartedly. Adults are non kids any more. We can non merely state, â€Å" It ‘s non my concern † and escape like a coward when confronting dangers and troubles. There is no room to compromise, but merely to endeavor frontward. We have to cognize what is fear, what may ache us. We have to take into consideration of all the effects and acc ept the worst consequence. When we choose to take the undertaking, no affair how difficult it is, we will lodge to it until we have the right reply. And besides accept it no affair that reply is happy or non. That is what a mature adult male should make, with unagitated attitude and passion. Most of all, a existent mature individual understands the power of love. S/he cares about others, does things in their favour, and even by making that means to scarify him or herself. Whatever he does, he cares about feelings of people around him or his opposite number. Those are my definitions of a mature adult male, a none-perfect but a healthily developed individual. Comparisons to the mature group of people, a just sum of juvenile people in this universe feels that they non necessitate others ‘ love like McCandless. Possibly because they have been turned down when they are small, or possibly they have beenA deridedA with teasing comments. By distancing themselves from others, they are willing to experience the hurting of purdah instead than the hurting of farther, possible rejection. I am ever inquiring how do they shut the spread, either by seeking to detect their ain value, self-respect so that they can accept a new relationship or merely by leting the emptiness of despairing topographic points to protect them from farther hurt? ( Endnotes ) A Sadly, McCandless chooses the 2nd one, wastes his life. â€Å" He tried excessively difficult to do sense of the universe, to calculate out why people were bad to each other so frequently. † ( Krakauer, page18 ) He could hold done something more meaningful with his comfortable life alternati vely of making nil. But he ‘s hunted by an imbecile thought to populate off land in Alaska with every bit small resource as possible. It seems to me every bit amusing as Timothy Treadwell ‘s phantasy life with wild Grizzlies. ( Wikipedia ) There are still a batch of people like Chris today who pays a monetary value for their immatureness. One narrative published last hebdomad on Yahoo intelligence is about the decease of a follower to McCandeless. â€Å" Cavalrymans say 29-year-old Claire Jane Ackermann attempted to traverse the Teklanika River with a 27-year-old adult male from France on Saturday when they lost their terms and were pulled under by the current, and the adult male survived. † ( AP intelligence ) Not until the minute McCandeless realizes â€Å" Happy merely existent when shared † ( Krakauer, page 178 ) does he complete his ultimate transmutation to a responsible mature adult male. But his life shortly ends in tragic, which is a rough duty for him to take. What promising is we readers have seen him eventually grew up even merely before he dies. â€Å" He was ready, possibly, to cast a small of the armour he wore around his bosom, that upon returning to civilisation, he intended to go a member of the human community. † ( Krakauer, Page 179 ) He eventually understands the importance of the function love plays in the mature would. If there is an after-life, we are certain that Chris will understand the significance of adulthood and will be more mature.Sources: 1.Enote Editors. â€Å" Enote on Into the Wild. † Enote.com/ hypertext transfer protocol: //www.enotes.com/into-wild. 2.SparkNotes Editors. â€Å" SparkNote on Into the Wild. † SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 1 Oct. 2010. 3.Yahoo News. â€Å" Swiss adult female drowns in Alaska river near site from the book † / hypertext transfer protocol: //www.journalpioneer.com/Canada — -World/Arts/2010-08-17/article-1679680/Swiss-woman-drowns-in-Alaska-river-near-site-from-book, -movie, -Into-the-Wild/1. 4.Wikipedia Editors. â€Å" Wikipedia on Into The Wild. † Wikipedia.com/ hypertext transfer protocol: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild_ ( movie ) . 5.Wikipedia Editors. â€Å" Wikipedia on coming of age. † Wikipedia.com/ hypertext transfer protocol: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_of_age. degree Fahrenheit

Personal development record Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Personal development record - Coursework Example environment issues incorporated in the module presented not only the responsibilities of an engineer but that the profession has great influence in several areas in the society. The site visit and guest talk added value and made the profession a real life experience. The aims and objectives of the module were well presented in the consecutive lectures. All lectures were relevant to the module towards molding of civil engineers. Lack of procurement case studies that assist in critical thinking of real life situations made the lecture slightly difficult to understand. Some lectures presented in power point slides like the Guest lecture required that they be availed to students with more emphasis on assignments to aid student be critical thinkers. The learning approaches used in the module were classroom lectures, guest talk, site visit, and group discussions. The classroom lectures were vivid and relevant to the topics of study. Through the guest talk and site visit, issues of concern in construction practice were well understood. Acquiring professional accreditation from engineering bodies such as The Institution of Structural Engineers, The Institution of Highway & Transportation, ICE, and Joint Board of Moderators among others at no cost. Professional attributes cover engineering knowledge, application, management and leadership, independent judgement, commercial ability, health safety and welfare and sustainable development. The module was well presented although interfered with reticence of individuals. At the same time, research and writing of own notes makes one get a better understanding of the subject. A career talk can be organized for the future classes, conducted with professional engineers from engineering institutions and companies. This will motivate the learner to have vision for the career. Visits incorporated in the module enhances better understanding of the module The lecture enabled me learn that a procurement route is a way of making sure

Improving Patient Satisfaction through Noise Reduction Activities Essay

Improving Patient Satisfaction through Noise Reduction Activities - Essay Example It increases stress levels, heart rate and risk of cardiac problems, disrupts sleep, produces confusion, affects cognitive function, alters hormone levels, and reduces the confidence of patients on their caregivers (Call, 2007). Shelton (2000) also points out that environmental noise and its possible effects on healing and the rate of recovery of hospitalized patients is a special concern to nurses. At the same time, it has been found that healthcare givers functioning in a noisy environment are vulnerable to irritability, depression, exhaustion and burnout. The purpose of the program or project Improvement of Patient Satisfaction through Noise Reduction Activities is a quality improvement initiative. The purpose of this project is to enhance patient-satisfaction scores by 20% within a period of six months. To achieve this, the project aims at evaluating the impacts of the most common sources of excessive noise within the hospital environment and developing a long-term solution to the problem. The major sources of excessive noise that have been identified in the hospital environment include nursing activities during the day, evening and night and, talking and laughing by visitors, employees, other patients and occasionally, construction.

Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Management - Essay Example Some of them can be listed as Dell, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba, Acer, Apple Inc., Lenovo and many more meeting the needs of the various segments of the industry. It is to be noted that in 2002, Compaq and Hewlett Packard formed a merger and in 2004, IBM sold off their PC business to Lenovo. The Compaq and IBM used to dominate the market in the mid-1990s and HP and Dell were formidable players in the late 1990s when share of IBM was dwindling year after year. With a great foresight, IBM became a minority share holder in Lenovo capturing18.4% share holding and IBM granted Lenovo rights to use their brand for 5 years. Eventually, Lenovo got the product brand ‘ThinkPad’ from the IBM on permanent basis. (IBM sells PC†¦2004) ASPECT 1 SWOT Analysis of Lenovo It will be worthwhile to see the Strengths, and Weaknesses of the company. Further it would be appropriate to look into the opportunities that are waiting for the company and impending threats which can hamper the growth of the company. Strengths a. The company has got back-up of IBM through their well qualified technical and managerial staff. b. All its computers are sold with IBM brand ‘ThinkPad’ providing a confidence to the consumers in the market place. c. For having access to low-cost labor, the company enjoys low cost of production across its product range. d. Being a state-owned company, the company is supported through local favorable rules and regulations during normal and adverse market conditions. Weaknesses a. Having few manufacturing bases outside china, the company may be in trouble during calamities, or natural disasters within the country. b. Being a state-owned company, certain delay in decision making process is inevitable and that works negatively for the company. Opportunities a. Worldwide installations are growing at the rate of 10 percent and above. PC penetration is still low in emerging markets and there is also a considerable market waiting to be tapped in mat ured economies. This provides a good growth possibility for the company like Lenovo. b. The field of computers is making regular up gradation and due to its linkages with IBM; the company is well placed in adopting any new technology that may come from its technology partner. c. In the long run, IBM’s expertise in the field of software and the long history of research and development is likely to give immense benefits to Lenovo. It forms a good synergy between the companies like Lenovo–having a low-cost manufacturing base and technology inputs from a technology giant like IBM. Threats a. Lenovo is currently competing with some of the world best companies like Acer, Dell, and Hewlett Packard. Any merger between them is likely to create a big threat to Lenovo. b. Dell and HP are expanding their operations and opening new manufacturing bases in China. This can certainly be looked as a big threat to the company. The SWOT analysis will also have bearing of some of the exter nal forces that may affect Lenovo. It will be worthwhile to identify some of the sociopolitical and other factors that may influence the working of Lenovo. Lenovo is a state-owned company having most of its operations in China barring a few installations in India and Mexico. India and Mexico operations are mostly for the local needs of that country. (News 2007) Majority of the manufacturing operations of Lenovo are based at China. Lenovo is a stat

NASA Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

NASA Project - Essay Example Multiple measurements and models have been put in place to improve and create an understanding hence improving on precision. Sea surface temperature comprises a three grid map in the western part of Atlantic is 2500 lines and 3900 samples. Mediterranean Sea is 2048 lines and 4096 samples and Mediterranean area which are 220 lines and 1350 samples. It is considered to be the most known sources of NO2 are in the combustion engines, pulp mills and thermal power stations. Its consequences include rivers are loaded with excess of this nutrient, excess deposits will pollute large water bodies. On the human consequences, the eyes, throat, nose and repertory system irritates when one come in contact with it. If a person gets exposed more often, it will lead to a chronic bronchitis which may lead to asthma disease. Children are at the high risk of being infected with respiratory infections. The intention of Giovanni interface is to provide an introduction to learners on environmental issues globally, regionally and also touches on local climatic changes. It is normally used by teachers and learners. This has been set on the DICCE-G basic portal to create relevance in detail thus enabling the user to come up with local climate change and thus expanding the idea into a global perspective. Giovanni is an application used alongside with the web in order to investigate the earth’s scientific data. It collects and analyzes data without necessarily downloading the data. It is also an interactive online infrastructure. Giovanni is used by researchers, teachers, policy makers, modelers, proposal writers and students. In order to use a Giovanni a web browser is required. The procedures are self explanatory and thus easy to

Public health and nutrition Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Public health and nutrition - Assignment Example The features that should be examined include: ï‚ § The nutrition standard offered by the school. The aim of the program in school is to give a nutrition that enhances development and growth in children in the setting where they live. It will also promote mental, physical, social and cognitive development in children (Brown & Isaacs, 2011). Research carried out has proved that children participating in school breakfast programs perform better have minimal absences and tardiness (Smith, 2009). The school breakfast program teaches students to adapt to healthful eating habits when they are still young. Various indicators will be used to determine if the program satisfies the needs of clients. The amount of each plate waste, the number of participants and the weight of the children involved in the program (Martin& Oakley, 2008). If there is a lot of left-over then, this will act as an indication that the type of foods offered by the program is not appealing to the students. On the other hand if the waste includes food like vegetables and fruits then it shows that the nutrition benefits of the program is not met. The weight of the students is imperative in determining if the breakfast program influences the students to live a healthy life. In case the number of children suffering from obesity increases then it would mean th at the diet is not balanced. If the initial number of the students participating increases then, the breakfast program is successful for it has appealed to more students. However, if the number of participants declines then the program is a failure and does not meet the needs of the students (Martin& Oakley, 2008). If the school breakfast program is not meeting the needs of the target population then, a thorough analysis of the school’s nutrition standards should be carried out. The areas of failures should be recognized, and recommendations made for improvement. The areas of concern comprise of

Career Statement Personal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Career - Personal Statement Example This inherent nature to serve people has come from my own family experiences as I have always been concerned about the health of my family members. In addition to serving the community by providing medical services, the nursing community can also contribute to educating people, especially those living without any basic amenities such as lack of electricity or drinking water, about several health issues. In addition, working in camps that serve the homeless and those affected by natural calamities and war, would definitely be a satisfying experience. Through such services one can pay back to the society that gave us the opportunity to learn and also help people to live life in the truest spirit. I would like to pursue my studies in nursing and specialize in the subject of my interest and gain a better insight in the subject which would help me achieve good career prospects. With the increasing occurrence of medical problems especially among the aged and the disadvantaged population ha ve drastically risen the demands of the medical profession which has in turn increased the nurse’s responsibility as only they bond directly with the people and help them cope with the treatment, medication.

Sustainability, Crime and Perceptions of Safety in Newcastle Essay - 10

Sustainability, Crime and Perceptions of Safety in Newcastle - Essay Example A sustainable community is one that acknowledges the interconnectedness of social, economic and environmental goals and has a comprehensive set of policies designed to satisfy the multiple benchmarks that define sustainability. According to the Centre for Sustainable Development at Simon Fraser University in Canada, â€Å"Sustainable Community Development (SCD) aims to integrate economic, social and environmental objectives in community development.† (â€Å"Why Sustainable Community Development†) In the context of the city of Newcastle, this cluster of goals and interrelated policies was compiled in The Australia Institute and Newcastle City Council authored report entitled, Indicators of a Sustainable Community, published in 2000. The report begins by noting, â€Å"Sustainability incorporates economic, social and environmental attributes of the City as they affect the quality of life of community members.† It goes on to note that sustainability is not a goal to be achieved but rather a process to be worked on with communities becoming more or less sustainable: â€Å"The challenge for policymakers and others involved in improving the quality of life in Newcastle will be to review these indicators over time and integrate them into management and decision-making processes within the City.† Interestingly, both of these indicators are important although they may, at times, be contradictory. It is not unheard of for crime rates to be dropping in a community at the same time that residents perceive themselves to be less safe. Therefore, this evaluation of crime and public safety in Newcastle will be conducted through analysis of actual crime rates and public perceptions of criminality and safety. The Indicators of a Sustainable Community report clearly identifies as one Desired Outcome improving community perception of safety. It defines the benchmark for this as, â€Å"Measuring how fear of crime impacts on people’s decisions to participate in activities outside the home indicates the community’s  perception of safety.  

Short Story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Short Story - Essay Example Sarah ran ahead, and squeezed herself in because she wanted to sit by the window. Finally after much pushing and shoving everyone piled into the van and headed off for the beach. Without hesitation they all jumped into the warm, blue water and started splashing around. At first Sarah tried to see for how long she could hold her breath underwater, but soon gave up on that. She dug her toes deeper into the sand and just sat there watching her two younger brothers and cousins wrestling with each other. They repeatedly tried to dunk one another in, but quit when their mom scolded them. Soon, getting tired of the water, Sarah waded back to shore. The sand was extremely hot beneath her feet and she hurriedly skipped her way to her towel and plopped down. Her mom smiled at her warmly and gave her a piece of cucumber to chew on while lunch was getting ready. Sarah sprawled back on the ground, lazily munching away. Squinting against the sun, she peered up at the sky, trying to make shapes out of the few wisps of clouds that slowly made their way across. The call for lunch jogged Sarah out of her sky-gazing. The rest of the kids crowded around, dripping and laughing. Sarah spread out her pita bread and smeared loads of ketchup on it. After heaping little steak pieces on the bread, she rolled it up neatly. Now it was just the way she liked it. After everyone was well fed ( none of them could take in another bite, not even her brothers who were boasting about how much they could gobble down earlier on), they all made their way to the water again. It was much cooler now. The whole gang divided up into two groups and started playing volleyball. Sarah could hardly jump out of the water to reach for the ball, but it was fun nonetheless. No one bothered to keep score, they were all too busy laughing and pushing each other down. Sarah fell in so many times that her brain seemed to be swimming in salt water. Tired and all splashed out,

Elements of Marketing Mix Essay Example for Free

Elements of Marketing Mix Essay Elements of Marketing Mix A typical marketing mix includes a product, offered at a price, with some promotion to tell potential customers about the product, and a way to reach the customers place (Perreault McCarthy, 2004, pg. 36). A company will use the marketing mix in order to control variables in marketing to satisfy a target group. This paper will describe the four elements of the marketing mix; product, place, price, and promotion. In addition, the four elements of the marketing mix will be discussed on the impacts in the development of Starbucks marketing strategy and tactics. ProductThe product area is concerned with developing the right product for the target market (Perreault, 2004, pg. 38). This requires a company to determine what item or service is desired by the customer in order to fulfill needs. The product needs to provide a service, cover the expected needs for the customer, or deliver the expectations created by other elements of the marketing mix. Service, benefits, branding, and packaging are some things that are taken into consideration with an organizations product (Perreault et al, 2004). The overall objective is to offer a product that will satisfy the wants and needs of people. PlacePlace is concerned with all the decisions involved in getting the right product to the target markets place (Perreault et al, 2004, pg. 39). Place refers to the delivery of a product or service to a location that customers may obtain from. This step is needed to get the finished product from the company or origin to the consumer. Marketers need to consider the most efficient method to distribute an organizations product. Channel type, market exposure, locations of stores, service levels, means of transportation and distributing are factors that are taken into considers when marketers need to develop a strategy for place (Perreault et al, 2004). The overall objective is creating a place in order for customers to buy the product. PricePrice setting must consider the kind of competition in the target market and the cost of the whole marketing mix (Perreault et al, 2004, pg. 40). The price is the amount that will be charged for the product. Managers  must know current practices as to markups, discounts, and other terms of sale (Perreault et al, 2004, pg. 40). The prices set by competitors will affect the price of the product. Organizations use pricing techniques in order to reach a competitive price of the product. Prices are set by a company in order to become profitable or to even reach the break even point. Flexibility, product life, cycles, geographic terms, discounts, and allowances are factors that must be considered before setting the price of a product (Perreault et al, 2004). In addition, pricing strategies also will vary according to region. For example, a product that sells for a price of 10 dollars in California may only sell for 7 dollars in the state of Georgia. The overall objective is the set the right price for the product. PromotionPromotion is concerned with telling the target market or others in the channel of distribution about the right product (Perreault et al, 2004, pg. 40). Promotion is how the marketer will communicate, inform and persuade customers to purchase a product or service. There are many ways in which to market the product. The marketer must take in account multiple ways of promotion; personal selling, mass selling, and sales promotion. All can be mixed to create the right blend that will target the marketplace. Personal selling involves direct communication between a company and their customer, usually face-to-face. However, direct communication can also be through phone interviews or sales calls, conferences through video and the internet (Perreault et al, 2004). Promotion can also be used to target a large group of consumers at the same time such as radio or television advertising. This is known as mass selling. Finally, sales promotion refers to promotion activities that do not in volve advertising and personal selling. Contest, coupons, and special offers are some examples of sales promotions (Perreault et al, 2004). Starbucks Marketing MixStarbucks Coffee mission statement is to establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow (Starbucks, n.d.). Starbucks has utilized the four marketing elements to help create an excellent impact in the development of their marketing tactics and strategies. Starbucks originated in Seattle, Washington, over 30 years ago,  and owns more than 12,000 stores worldwide. Starbucks achieved this by creating a successful marketing strategy. Starbucks was recognized 7 times as one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by Business Ethics Magazine (Shareholder, 2007). Starbucks customers include people of diverse ethnicity, income, and age groups with varying tastes and interest. With this diverse clientele, Starbucks has made marketing a challenge to target all these diverse groups of people. ProductStarbucks is dedicated to purchasing the highest quality coffee and paying premium prices to reflect ongoing commitment to coffee-farming communities (Shareholder, 2007). The reason Starbucks offer so many different varieties of products is to satisfy the diverse clientele. This company has continuously been able to influence their clientele by offering products that appeal to all cultures. Starbucks has been able to meet a specific market demand. Starbucks gives a wide range of food and beverage options, from indulgent treats to lower-fat and reduced-calorie choices for all consumers tastes (Shareholder, 2007). Starbucks continues to innovate and extend the Starbucks Experience with imaginative new ready-to-drink beverages and expanding coffee offerings. PlaceStarbucks stores are strategically placed in locations that are visible and have a great deal of traffic. Starbucks is successful at placing their products strategically in order to impact sales volume. According to the Starbucks 2006 annual report, we opened 2,199 new stores globally (ahead of 1,800), at an average pace of six new stores per day, bringing our total to 12,440 stores in 37 countries (Shareholder, 2007). They have locations on busy street corners, in malls, theaters, office buildings, grocery stores and airports which have allowed them to be clearly visible. Almost anywhere a person turns there is a Starbucks around the corner. PriceStarbucks does not consider their price to strategy to be of significance compared to the other elements in the industry. The companys 12-ounce tall latte ranges from $2.25 in Minnesota to $3 in New York City (Wong, 2004). Like any company, prices are based on the level of economy in each area. Starbucks prices largely are also based on manufacturing.  Starbucks prices reflect cost of coffee beans, sugar, geographical areas, and the overall experience. Distribution also plays a role in how the product is priced at each company. PromotionStarbucks employs a mix between personal selling and sales promotion. Personal selling lets the salesperson adapt the firms marketing mix to each potential customer (Perreault et al, 2004). Starbucks does not just have salespeople, but baristas. Starbucks baristas inform and sell the product face-to-face to the customers. Starbuckss promotions do not include traditional advertising, but global sales promotions. Sales promotions spark purchases by customers through different channels. In August of 2006, Starbucks supported Jumpstarts Read for the Record campaign. They sold 53,000 copies of The Little Engine That Could and hosted 330 reading events setting an official Guinness world record. Furthermore, incentive sales promotions included donating 5 cents for every bottle sold for the Ethos Water Fund. The Ethos Water Fund focuses on improving local water sources and providing sanitation and hygiene education to the communities in Ethiopia and Indonesia (Shareholder, 2007). People want to be apart of Starbucks global efforts and these are examples of effective sales promotions. ConclusionWhen developing a marketing, all decisions impacted the four Ps should be made at the same time. The four elements of the marketing mix are equally important. This is because the products, places, prices, and promotions of an organization surround the most important element; the customer (Perreault et al, 2004). According to Starbucks 2006 annual report, There are numerous competitors in almost every market in which Starbucks operates and in which it expects to expand in both the specialty coffee beverage business and the specialty whole bean coffee business (Shareholder, 2007). Starbucks has proven to stay on top of their market. However, Starbucks and any organization need to continuously examine their marketing mix in order to stay competitive and profitable. By successfully completing the circle of the four Ps, Starbucks has established a multi-million dollar organization that is a Fortune 100 Company. References Perreault, W. D. McCarthy, E. J. (2004). Basic Marketing: A Global-Managerial Approach. The McGraw-Hill Companies. Retrieved Nov. 11, 2007, from https://mycampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource.aspStarbucks, (n.d.). Retrieved Nov. 11, 2007, from http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/environment.aspShareholder, (2007). In Starbucks Coffee 2006 Annual Report. Retrieved Nov. 11, 2007, from http://www.shareholder.com/visitors/dynamicdoc/document.cfm?CompanyID=SBUXDocumentID=1382PIN=Page=13Zoom=1xWong, B. (2004, Sept. 28). In Cup of Starbucks going up average of 11 cents Oct. 6. Retrieved Nov. 11, 2007, from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/192721_coffeeprice28.html

Concepts for Environmental Sustainability

Concepts for Environmental Sustainability A Perspective on environmental sustainability? Environmental Sustainability The Commissioner acts as an independent voice that advocates, audits and reports on environmental sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to explore the meaning of environmental sustainability. The community needs a definition of environmental sustainability that is easily understood, is logical, and is helpful in facilitating understanding, communication and effective action by all key players (government, community, business, innovators, academia, communicators, etc.). The paper also explores the meaning of related terms and definitions eg. sustainability and related words in common usage ecologically sustainable development (as defined by the Commissioners enabling legislation) sustainable development (the Brundtland definition) triple bottom line. A preferred definition of environmental sustainability Environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain things or qualities that are valued in the physical environment This is the simplest and most fundamental way to express the concept.But people using the term environmental sustainability can specify or elaborate the term further to add extra meaning or to apply the concept to more specialised contexts. What is the physical environment? This is the physical surrounds to something.For example, the land, waters and atmosphere, physical resources and thebuildings and roadsand other physical elements go to make up the urban environment.Rural environments are made up of the farms and living areas of people andthe land and waters and atmosphere and biological elements (species utilised by agriculture, pest species, and native species, and ecological communities both human induced and natural).Natural environments are those where the influence of wild species (indigenous and naturalised) is dominant or very strong.Physical resources, of all sorts, including mineral resources, can be considered to be part of the environment. Physical environments can be considered on all scales from the micro to the local, global and even larger scales. There is no sharp distinction between the environmental and other domains (eg. social and economic) in fact the content of each domain overlaps other domains massively. The key to understan ding doesnt lie in trying to set non-overlappingboundaries between the domains but lies in being clear about the focus of different domains. (Link to) Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Act 00 The physical environment includes the natural and biological environments. What makes an issue a sustainability issue? A sustainability issue arises whenever a valued system, object, process or attribute is under threat.The existence of the valued system, object, process or attribute could be threatened or its quality could be threatened with serious decline. In other words there is a sustainability issue whenever there is something that is valued that faces the risk of not being maintained. Whenever there is a strong sense of urgency, there is always a sustainability issue involved.This urgency couldrelate to something thatalready existsortoan understood potential.For example biodiversity might be threatened with extinction or the chance to realise the potential of a human being might be threatened, for example, if they remain in poverty or their lives are threatened by violence or disease.(The latter would usually be thought of as being social sustainability issues.) What exactly are we trying to maintain in the physical environment and who decides? There is no automatic, fixed agenda built into the term environmental sustainability. We have to look to the context to see what might be sustained.And many people and organisations already have well developedideas about what aspects of the total environment should be sustained when environmental sustainability is pursued. In a place like Victoria, with our culture, political processes and physical environment, there is strong public pressure to maintain (sustain) things like: ecosystem services (eg. nutrient cycling, the water cycle, natural water purification, climate moderation, soil protection high quality urban environments areas of natural beauty other species and ecological communities the user value flowing from physical resources (eg. minerals, energy, renewableresources, water) What motivates us to want to sustain something in the physical environment? We might want to sustain something in the physical environment because it is useful to us: e.g. the quality of local urban environments. Or we might want to do it because we care about the wellbeing of other people or other species for their sake, not ours. That is we can be motivated by utilitarian concerns and/or altruism. Sometimes we maintain something in the environmental domain in order to make it possible to achieve another goal in another domain.For example, we might sustain marine habitats in order to support the livelihood of coastal townships.Or we might sustain renewable resources so that we can support economic development or genuine progress Genuine progress is development that creates new benefits without undermining or destroying old benefits that are still valued in the community.In recent years a lot of work has been done on ‘genuine progress indicators as alternatives to GDP measures .) How long should we try to sustain something? This question can only be answered after deciding specifically what needs to be sustained and why. For example, ecosystems services for clean air would need to be sustained as long as there are living things (including people) that need to breatheclean air.For all practical purposes that means forever . Living species seem to last on average a few million years before becoming extinct though some may evolve into new species.So if we maintained a natural extinction rate for species it is so low that for practical purposes we would need to manage in the here and now as if we wanted all species to survive, effectively forever. Sustaining the recycling of certain materials may only need to continue for as long as those material types are needed technologically, and depending on the pace of technical change this could be for centuries or for decades.It is risky to assume that resources are only needed for a short time however as society might find new uses for materials as technology, lifestyles and environmental awareness develop. When it comes to trying to sustain habitat on a site-s pecific basis, very specific localised habitat or ecological community patches might need to persist for anywhere between thousands of years and just a few years depending on the ecological system involved provided all of the dependent species can access these habitat or ecological community typessomewhere consistently and at adequate scale within their local ranges forever. Is there any connection betweenenvironmental sustainability and social or economic sustainability? Since humans depend in countless ways on the physical environment (both natural and human constructed) sustaining desired environmental conditions directly contributes to the sustaining of people and human societies, that is, to social sustainability.The viability of theeconomy clearly depends on environmental resources and service flows so economicsustainability depends on environmental sustainability. More generally it can be seen that sustainability in one domain can be necessary for sustainability in another.Sustainability requirements can be mapped to show complex dependencies across domains.We classify sustainability issues into separate domains, not because the sustainabilityissues are unrelated, but for reasons of convenience and tradition, for example, to allow specialisations to develop in RD and administration, to break up complex whole into mentally manageable chunks, to reflect historical connections, etc. Can the idea of environmental sustainability drive commitments to specific action? While the idea ofenvironmental sustainability is very broad in its possible scope, concerns for environmental sustainability can be translated in specific practical goals and these can and should drive action programs.See the section How to use the definition of environmental sustainability to facilitate effective action. on page . Is restoration part of an environmental sustainability program? In a world where life-support systems and other conditions required for sustainability have been run down,environmental sustainability can only be achieved through a combination of both preventive and restorative actions.So restoration is a key part of what needs to be done to achieve sustainability.In most instances it is better to avoid destroying environmental values in the first place rather than relying on restoration as the primary strategy.However, where damage has been done that could prevent valued elements of the physical environment being sustained, restoration should not be overlooked. If we pursue an environmental sustainability program how much should we try tosustain? The physical environment is powerfully affected by and is made up of evolving systems ecological systems, societies and economies.These evolving systems will create changes in some aspects of the physical environment and will prevent or resist changes in other aspects.So anenvironmental sustainability program could never aim to sustain or maintain absolutely every component and attribute of the entire physical environment.Anyenvironmental sustainability program must start out by being clear about what it is hoped will be maintained in the physical environment and what can be allowed to change or what will be made to change.Precisely what people set out to sustain within the physical environment will depend on their value judgements, needs, skills and technology and available resources to support the action program and the current state and the dynamics of the physical environment.We cannot assume that we automatically know what should be sustained (and what should not) in the physic al environment just because there is an environmental sustainability program operating.We need to work the answer out explicitly. The origin of the core word sustain and its main derivatives The word sustain has been in the language for thousands of years.It comes from the Latin sustenare meaning to hold up ie. to support.From there it evolved long ago to mean to keep something going or extend its duration, with an overtone of providing the support or necessities that made the extended duration possible eg. a sustaining meal.These days, for commonest non-specialised use of the word the closest synonym is maintain. Sustain and its derivatives (eg. sustainability, sustainable, sustaining) were first used in a micro or personal context.However several hundreds of years ago the Swiss and Germans invented a form of forestry designed to keep the forest going as productive systems over the very long term and this was called, in the English speaking world, sustainable forestry.The idea was then extended to sustainable fisheries. From there it was not such a big step for the term to be applied, during the 0s and 0s, in the macro context of environmental issues where there was a need to sustain the whole environment and human society.This usage was established by the time of the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm. The drifts in meaning Having reached a macro level of application sustainability was most often talked about in terms of sustainable development.The 0 World Conservation Strategy produced by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN or World Conservation Union) put forward the concept of sustainable development meaning development that would allow ecosystem services and biodiversity to be sustained.The Brundtland Report shifted the meaning of sustainable development to mean â€Å"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generationsto meet their own needs†. Then the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio set in train processes such as Agenda and Local Agenda that resulted in many people coming to the view that sustainability equals the integration or balancing of environmental, social and economic issues or simultaneous progress in the environmental, social and economic domains, often in t he context of strong programs of consultation and participation. Many people however felt uneasy with the notion of development as it is often associated with the destruction of environmental and social attributes that they value, so they felt better talking about sustainability rather than sustainable development. So, over time sustainability and sustainable development came to be treated by many people as synonyms.This trend was reinforced because some people found the term sustainable development to be a bit of a mouthful and they used sustainability as a convenient (if inaccurate) shorthand. As the scale of the taskof achieving a sustainable environment and society has become apparent many people have tried to insulate themselves from the enormity of the challenge by retreating into small incremental changes.So some people have started to say that sustainability is a process of change and not an end state, and that its the journey that counts, not the destination. As the terms sustainability and sustainable development have been used more and more in government and corporate circles, because of increasing discussion of environment and development, the business world has started using the terms more and more for its own purposes.Curiouslyin this context sustainable has quickly reverted to its earlier simple meaning of able to be maintained.So sustainable profits, or sustainable competitive advantage mean profits or competitive advantage that can be maintained for the longer term.The straightforward use of sustain and its derivatives within the domain of business is understandable because businesses face competition and hence the risk of decline and extinction every day of the week.This experience of threat leads business people to reproduce meanings of the terms that are the same as those in long-term common usage or those in the area of biological conservation. The benefits of definitional clarity and a strong relationship to core meanings The important benefit of definitional clarity is that it makes it easier to avoid logical problems and makes effective action more likely. A search on the web reveals hundreds of definitions of sustainability and sustainable development Although this diversity is a little overwhelmingit is not really. surprising given that there are many diverse people involved in the sustainability debate and there are legitimate complexities involved.However, a careful review of these definitions reveals that they fall into four basic categories only one of which (type ) is a normal dictionary-style definition.The other types are referred to in this paper as contextual definitions because they create a greater understanding of the context of a term rather than defining its essence.The four types of definitions are: Type : definitions based on the essence: x is/means y eg. sustainability is/means the ability to sustain something; sustainable development is development that can be maintained; sustaining development is development that sustains something Type : contextual definitions based onstrategies for achieving the thing being defined: the achievement of x requires y eg. the achievement of sustainability requires, for example, the integration of environmental, social and economic issues Type : contextual definitions based on the outcomes of the thing being defined: x results in y; eg. sustainable development results inthe meeting of needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations Type : contextual definitions based on what amovement with that label tries to achieve or is interested in: x is what the X movement strives for eg. sustainability is what the Sustainability movement strives for ie. Sustainability encompasses the protection of the environment and people, peace, and end to poverty, the meeting of human needs, enhancement of human wellbeing, promotion of happiness, etc., etc., etc. Furthermore any of these types of definitions can be framed in a more general or a narrower context eg. applied to whole systems eg. society and the environment or just to specific contexts eg. the environment of a particular species, or to specific human communities or a particular economy. The last three types of definition can be useful as they are carefully expressed so it is  clear what sort of context they are creating.But if they are written using words that See Susan Murcotts list of definitions of sustainable development in the Reference section. Where sustaining is used as an adjective (not as a verb). suggest that they are type , or dictionary-style, definitions then these types of definitions usually cause significant confusion. For example, the type definition the achievement of sustainability requires, for example, the integration of environmental, social and economic issues is usually presented as if it were a type definition ie. sustainability is the integration of environmental, social and economic issues.This produces the absurd implication that if we simply consider environmental, social and economic issues together that this somehow generates a sustainability outcome.Often the opposite is true because the issues are traded off against each other and one or more of the objectives are not adequately fulfilled leading to a decline (unsustainability) in the domains traded off. So in this case, a lack of clarity in the expression of the definition leads to a substitution of means for ends and the outcome is unsustainability. The much-used Brundtland definition of sustainable development is a type definition, that is, it describes what theoutcome will be of pursuing sustainable development.The wording that is universally used is â€Å"sustainable developmentis development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†.But this is in fact a not-careful-enough paraphrasing of the original in the Brundtland report which read: â€Å"Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.† (definition quoted from p. of the Brun dtland Report).The Brundtland statement should have been paraphrased along the followinglines: â€Å"sustainable development can under the right circumstances result in the needs of the present being met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†. This formulation then focuses peoples attention on what is to be sustained, what needs are to be met in different generations and what strategies are to be applied to get the desired outcomes. Not only is definitional clarity important but so is maintaining a strong relationship between the core meaning of words and their various derived forms.For example, the terms sustainability and sustainable development are now used interchangeably by many people.For some, the motivation fordoing this is to find a shorter term to substitute for sustainable development.Others prefer to use the term sustainability as a synonym for sustainable development because they dont like talking about development since in their experience it has negative connotations either for themselves or for others.  But the end result is that two terms that originally had distinctly different meanings which served practical communication purposes are now blurred into each other thus losing the distinction of meaning. Or sustainable development. Sustainability is about continuity and development is about change. There are manythings about life that we want to sustain (maintain) and many that we want to change.So it makes sense to create the notion of sustainable development that combinesdesired change and desired continuity -for example we might change exploitation,unhappiness, poverty, destructiveness, etc.and sustain the rest of nature, trust, tolerance, honesty, happiness, health, etc.Treated in this waysustainable development doesnt have to be an oxymoron (a combination of conflicting terms). While theory says that sustainable development does not have to be an oxymoron, it can sometimes take quite a bit of negotiation before a whole society can be comfortable with a shared definition of what should be maintained and what should be changed. Developing a preferred definition of environmental sustainability The meanings of words gain their legitimacy from shared use, so in the final analysis there are no independently correct meanings, just meanings that are well understood by many people But words also help to shape our understandings and then our. actions, so the key question is not what is the correct definition? but what do we want environmental sustainability to mean, what would be most desirable? How we choose to answer this questiondepends critically on our preference for treating environmental sustainability as either a practical goal or a utopian concept. The historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee wrote in A study of history () that: The twentieth century will be chiefly remembered by future generations not as an era of political conflicts or technical inventions, but as an age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective. Sometimes the meaning of words can evolve into almost their opposite.For example terrific used to mean to c ause extreme terror now it most often means extraordinarily good.The linking meaning was probably exciting eg. the roller coaster ride was terrific†. The quote by English historian Arnold J. Toynbee was used in Lester B. Pearsons Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in . (Pearson won for introducing the concept of peacekeeping through the United Nations.)From: http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates//pearson-lecture.html This could be extended so that we think of our present era as being distinguished as the age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of both the whole human race and the whole planet as a practical objective. If this is so then we can perhaps put aside the idea of seeingenvironmental sustainability as a utopian concept and, instead, opt for seeing it as a practical objective, that is, something to be both aspired to and achieved. But we should be doubly practical. We want to be able to use a definition of environmental sustainability that: makes it easier for us to get things done (the first practicality) and we want the definition to help us focus our minds on getting the most important or relevant things done (the second practicality). To help in getting things done a definition of environmental sustainability will need to: facilitate communication between all the people who need to be involved in the issue make it easier to identify actions that need to be taken in order to achieve environmental sustainability Before exploring how thechoice of definition ofenvironmental sustainabilitycan help us be doubly practical we need to identify some definitional choices that we can apply our choice-criteria to. Some of the basic types of definitions of environmental and sustainability that are used currently are: environmental. referring to just the biological environment referring to all possible environments(contexts) eg. social, economic, physical,intellectual referring to the physical environment including thebiological, the geomorphological environment and theconstructed and cultural physical environments sustainability.. meaning the integration or balancing of social, environmental and economic issues,or programs or actions based on stakeholder or community consultation meaning sustainable development or making people better off in an ethically sound way meaning the ability to sustain something. How should we select among these options if we want to facilitate communication? There is really no sectorof the economy or group of people in the community that should be uninvolved in efforts to achieveenvironmental sustainability.Soifitis possible to use simple definitions that are in common usage throughout the whole community there is a good chance that most people will be able to understand each0 other.Also definitions that are widely spread in the community are likely to be more stable because drifts in meaning that emerge in small groups are not likely to be taken up by the whole population. The compound-concept ofenvironmental sustainability is not widely used in the community, nor is the word sustainability.But the core concept to sustain is widely used, and the term environmentor environmental is widely used.In common usage to sustain means tokeep something going or maintain something.Environment means, incommon usage, either the context or surroundings of something, or itmeans, more specifically, the physical environment.Clearly the Parliament of Victoria, when it passed the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Act 00, was using the word environment in the sense of the physical environment rather than more universal meaning of the context for anything. How can our choice of definition make it easier to identify actions to take to achieve environmental sustainability? Having an action focus, especially where the aim is actually to achieve desired outcomes, means that it is not helpful touse definitions that are fuzzy or based on logical confusion.So treating sustainability and sustainable development as synonyms (ie. as having the same meaning) is not likely to be a good idea.Adding the word sustainable to development must change the type of development we are talking about otherwise why would we bother talking about sustainable development if we could more conveniently just use the word development?So if we say that sustainability has the same meaning as sustainable development what we saying in logical terms is: Concept A= Concept A + Concept B In other words it doesnt make any logical sense at all! This sort of definitional fuzziness and confusion can only persist where people are not trying to be clear about what they are talking about.And indeed some people argue that sustainability is anunattainable goal so they are not greatly fussed about the details of the definition that they use. (That is, they treat environmental sustainability as a Utopian concept rather than a practical goal.) However, if we want to use a definition ofenvironmental sustainability that makes action easier then we should avoid confusions like defining sustainability as sustainable development. How can our choice of definition help us focus our minds on gettingthe most important or relevant things done? We can only answer this by going back to what motivated societys interest in environmental sustainability in the first place.The historical record makes it clear that people became concerned aboutenvironmental sustainability when they discovered tha t aspects of the environment that they loved or depended on for survival or quality of life were threatened with extinction or serious degradation.There was an urgent concern about loss that made people think about sustainability.Were they originally thinking about integrating environmental, social and economic issues?Not at all.They were worrying about maintaining or keeping going something that they valued.How then did the ‘integration or ‘balance definition emerge?After some years of trying to achieve environmental sustainability people realised that unless they also dealt with the interacting social and economic issues they would simply not succeed in achieving their environmental goals.But did this practical/pragmatic (and perhaps ethical) realisation, change peoples environmental goals? Not really. So why did some people then change the definition of environmental sustainability to mean the integration of environmental, socialand economic issues? It was most likely because their practical focus of attention had shifted to the integration issue and they inadvertently made a classic mistake of confusing means with ends (ie. methods with goals) There is another issue that bears on thequestion of getting the most important or relevant things done.Andthat is, in what way does environmental qualify the notion of sustainability when they are compounded?Doesenvironmental sustainabilityimply the sustainability of thewhole physical environment?Or just parts of it?From a practical point of view the physical environment is so inclusive that no real-lifeenvironmental sustainabilityprogram would everset out to sustain and maintain every aspect.If we tried to do that we would, for example, freeze in place or maintain the distribution and abundance of pest plants and animals, the reduced distribution and abundance of native species, coal-fired power stations and an excessive allocation of land and resourcesto road-based transport, dangerous and resource inef ficient buildings, over-built flood plains, etc. Societys are always selective about what they want to sustain even if the agenda for action is still a huge one (eg. maintaining life support systems, maintaining quality of life, keeping native species going, maintaining the resource-base for the economy, etc.). Finally, if we are concerned to get the most important or relevant things done, what definitions should we rule out? Definitions of sustainability such as the integration or balancing of social, environmental and economic issues, or programs or actions based on stakeholder or community consultation no longer seem appropriate and definingenvironmental sustainability as applying to absolutely everything in the physical environment no longer seems useful. Pulling all these issues together, it is now possible to propose a preferred definition for environmental sustainability as follows: environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain things or qualities that arevalued in the physical environment . This happens because people have a way of expressing themselves that goes like this: environmental sustainability is all about .(insert the practical action or implication of their choice).Then people forget that this is not a definitional statement and they go on to treat it as one. A compatible suite of sustainability terms This suite of words has been developed to distinguish: between what is doing the sustaining and what it is being sustained ie. between means and ends the scope of what is being sustained Word (form) Meaning Suggested usage Incompatible usage sustain (verb) means to maintain something through time; to keep it going; to extend its duration eg. communities are working to sustain ecosystem services, or quality of life or other species sustainability (noun) means the ability or capability to sustain (maintain) something eg. will this community ach ieve sustainability for the things that it wants to persist through time (adjective) means related to or having to do with sustainability eg. a sustainability action plan is an action plan about sustainability not an action plan that can be kept in operation over an extended period sustainable (adjective) means able to be sustained, durable or able to be maintained (note: in this meaning the noun that the word is attached to is the thing that is sustained) eg. a sustainable policy is a policy that is kept in force over an extended period not a policy about sustainability sustaining (adjective) means having the propensity or tend Concepts for Environmental Sustainability Concepts for Environmental Sustainability A Perspective on environmental sustainability? Environmental Sustainability The Commissioner acts as an independent voice that advocates, audits and reports on environmental sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to explore the meaning of environmental sustainability. The community needs a definition of environmental sustainability that is easily understood, is logical, and is helpful in facilitating understanding, communication and effective action by all key players (government, community, business, innovators, academia, communicators, etc.). The paper also explores the meaning of related terms and definitions eg. sustainability and related words in common usage ecologically sustainable development (as defined by the Commissioners enabling legislation) sustainable development (the Brundtland definition) triple bottom line. A preferred definition of environmental sustainability Environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain things or qualities that are valued in the physical environment This is the simplest and most fundamental way to express the concept.But people using the term environmental sustainability can specify or elaborate the term further to add extra meaning or to apply the concept to more specialised contexts. What is the physical environment? This is the physical surrounds to something.For example, the land, waters and atmosphere, physical resources and thebuildings and roadsand other physical elements go to make up the urban environment.Rural environments are made up of the farms and living areas of people andthe land and waters and atmosphere and biological elements (species utilised by agriculture, pest species, and native species, and ecological communities both human induced and natural).Natural environments are those where the influence of wild species (indigenous and naturalised) is dominant or very strong.Physical resources, of all sorts, including mineral resources, can be considered to be part of the environment. Physical environments can be considered on all scales from the micro to the local, global and even larger scales. There is no sharp distinction between the environmental and other domains (eg. social and economic) in fact the content of each domain overlaps other domains massively. The key to understan ding doesnt lie in trying to set non-overlappingboundaries between the domains but lies in being clear about the focus of different domains. (Link to) Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Act 00 The physical environment includes the natural and biological environments. What makes an issue a sustainability issue? A sustainability issue arises whenever a valued system, object, process or attribute is under threat.The existence of the valued system, object, process or attribute could be threatened or its quality could be threatened with serious decline. In other words there is a sustainability issue whenever there is something that is valued that faces the risk of not being maintained. Whenever there is a strong sense of urgency, there is always a sustainability issue involved.This urgency couldrelate to something thatalready existsortoan understood potential.For example biodiversity might be threatened with extinction or the chance to realise the potential of a human being might be threatened, for example, if they remain in poverty or their lives are threatened by violence or disease.(The latter would usually be thought of as being social sustainability issues.) What exactly are we trying to maintain in the physical environment and who decides? There is no automatic, fixed agenda built into the term environmental sustainability. We have to look to the context to see what might be sustained.And many people and organisations already have well developedideas about what aspects of the total environment should be sustained when environmental sustainability is pursued. In a place like Victoria, with our culture, political processes and physical environment, there is strong public pressure to maintain (sustain) things like: ecosystem services (eg. nutrient cycling, the water cycle, natural water purification, climate moderation, soil protection high quality urban environments areas of natural beauty other species and ecological communities the user value flowing from physical resources (eg. minerals, energy, renewableresources, water) What motivates us to want to sustain something in the physical environment? We might want to sustain something in the physical environment because it is useful to us: e.g. the quality of local urban environments. Or we might want to do it because we care about the wellbeing of other people or other species for their sake, not ours. That is we can be motivated by utilitarian concerns and/or altruism. Sometimes we maintain something in the environmental domain in order to make it possible to achieve another goal in another domain.For example, we might sustain marine habitats in order to support the livelihood of coastal townships.Or we might sustain renewable resources so that we can support economic development or genuine progress Genuine progress is development that creates new benefits without undermining or destroying old benefits that are still valued in the community.In recent years a lot of work has been done on ‘genuine progress indicators as alternatives to GDP measures .) How long should we try to sustain something? This question can only be answered after deciding specifically what needs to be sustained and why. For example, ecosystems services for clean air would need to be sustained as long as there are living things (including people) that need to breatheclean air.For all practical purposes that means forever . Living species seem to last on average a few million years before becoming extinct though some may evolve into new species.So if we maintained a natural extinction rate for species it is so low that for practical purposes we would need to manage in the here and now as if we wanted all species to survive, effectively forever. Sustaining the recycling of certain materials may only need to continue for as long as those material types are needed technologically, and depending on the pace of technical change this could be for centuries or for decades.It is risky to assume that resources are only needed for a short time however as society might find new uses for materials as technology, lifestyles and environmental awareness develop. When it comes to trying to sustain habitat on a site-s pecific basis, very specific localised habitat or ecological community patches might need to persist for anywhere between thousands of years and just a few years depending on the ecological system involved provided all of the dependent species can access these habitat or ecological community typessomewhere consistently and at adequate scale within their local ranges forever. Is there any connection betweenenvironmental sustainability and social or economic sustainability? Since humans depend in countless ways on the physical environment (both natural and human constructed) sustaining desired environmental conditions directly contributes to the sustaining of people and human societies, that is, to social sustainability.The viability of theeconomy clearly depends on environmental resources and service flows so economicsustainability depends on environmental sustainability. More generally it can be seen that sustainability in one domain can be necessary for sustainability in another.Sustainability requirements can be mapped to show complex dependencies across domains.We classify sustainability issues into separate domains, not because the sustainabilityissues are unrelated, but for reasons of convenience and tradition, for example, to allow specialisations to develop in RD and administration, to break up complex whole into mentally manageable chunks, to reflect historical connections, etc. Can the idea of environmental sustainability drive commitments to specific action? While the idea ofenvironmental sustainability is very broad in its possible scope, concerns for environmental sustainability can be translated in specific practical goals and these can and should drive action programs.See the section How to use the definition of environmental sustainability to facilitate effective action. on page . Is restoration part of an environmental sustainability program? In a world where life-support systems and other conditions required for sustainability have been run down,environmental sustainability can only be achieved through a combination of both preventive and restorative actions.So restoration is a key part of what needs to be done to achieve sustainability.In most instances it is better to avoid destroying environmental values in the first place rather than relying on restoration as the primary strategy.However, where damage has been done that could prevent valued elements of the physical environment being sustained, restoration should not be overlooked. If we pursue an environmental sustainability program how much should we try tosustain? The physical environment is powerfully affected by and is made up of evolving systems ecological systems, societies and economies.These evolving systems will create changes in some aspects of the physical environment and will prevent or resist changes in other aspects.So anenvironmental sustainability program could never aim to sustain or maintain absolutely every component and attribute of the entire physical environment.Anyenvironmental sustainability program must start out by being clear about what it is hoped will be maintained in the physical environment and what can be allowed to change or what will be made to change.Precisely what people set out to sustain within the physical environment will depend on their value judgements, needs, skills and technology and available resources to support the action program and the current state and the dynamics of the physical environment.We cannot assume that we automatically know what should be sustained (and what should not) in the physic al environment just because there is an environmental sustainability program operating.We need to work the answer out explicitly. The origin of the core word sustain and its main derivatives The word sustain has been in the language for thousands of years.It comes from the Latin sustenare meaning to hold up ie. to support.From there it evolved long ago to mean to keep something going or extend its duration, with an overtone of providing the support or necessities that made the extended duration possible eg. a sustaining meal.These days, for commonest non-specialised use of the word the closest synonym is maintain. Sustain and its derivatives (eg. sustainability, sustainable, sustaining) were first used in a micro or personal context.However several hundreds of years ago the Swiss and Germans invented a form of forestry designed to keep the forest going as productive systems over the very long term and this was called, in the English speaking world, sustainable forestry.The idea was then extended to sustainable fisheries. From there it was not such a big step for the term to be applied, during the 0s and 0s, in the macro context of environmental issues where there was a need to sustain the whole environment and human society.This usage was established by the time of the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm. The drifts in meaning Having reached a macro level of application sustainability was most often talked about in terms of sustainable development.The 0 World Conservation Strategy produced by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN or World Conservation Union) put forward the concept of sustainable development meaning development that would allow ecosystem services and biodiversity to be sustained.The Brundtland Report shifted the meaning of sustainable development to mean â€Å"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generationsto meet their own needs†. Then the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio set in train processes such as Agenda and Local Agenda that resulted in many people coming to the view that sustainability equals the integration or balancing of environmental, social and economic issues or simultaneous progress in the environmental, social and economic domains, often in t he context of strong programs of consultation and participation. Many people however felt uneasy with the notion of development as it is often associated with the destruction of environmental and social attributes that they value, so they felt better talking about sustainability rather than sustainable development. So, over time sustainability and sustainable development came to be treated by many people as synonyms.This trend was reinforced because some people found the term sustainable development to be a bit of a mouthful and they used sustainability as a convenient (if inaccurate) shorthand. As the scale of the taskof achieving a sustainable environment and society has become apparent many people have tried to insulate themselves from the enormity of the challenge by retreating into small incremental changes.So some people have started to say that sustainability is a process of change and not an end state, and that its the journey that counts, not the destination. As the terms sustainability and sustainable development have been used more and more in government and corporate circles, because of increasing discussion of environment and development, the business world has started using the terms more and more for its own purposes.Curiouslyin this context sustainable has quickly reverted to its earlier simple meaning of able to be maintained.So sustainable profits, or sustainable competitive advantage mean profits or competitive advantage that can be maintained for the longer term.The straightforward use of sustain and its derivatives within the domain of business is understandable because businesses face competition and hence the risk of decline and extinction every day of the week.This experience of threat leads business people to reproduce meanings of the terms that are the same as those in long-term common usage or those in the area of biological conservation. The benefits of definitional clarity and a strong relationship to core meanings The important benefit of definitional clarity is that it makes it easier to avoid logical problems and makes effective action more likely. A search on the web reveals hundreds of definitions of sustainability and sustainable development Although this diversity is a little overwhelmingit is not really. surprising given that there are many diverse people involved in the sustainability debate and there are legitimate complexities involved.However, a careful review of these definitions reveals that they fall into four basic categories only one of which (type ) is a normal dictionary-style definition.The other types are referred to in this paper as contextual definitions because they create a greater understanding of the context of a term rather than defining its essence.The four types of definitions are: Type : definitions based on the essence: x is/means y eg. sustainability is/means the ability to sustain something; sustainable development is development that can be maintained; sustaining development is development that sustains something Type : contextual definitions based onstrategies for achieving the thing being defined: the achievement of x requires y eg. the achievement of sustainability requires, for example, the integration of environmental, social and economic issues Type : contextual definitions based on the outcomes of the thing being defined: x results in y; eg. sustainable development results inthe meeting of needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations Type : contextual definitions based on what amovement with that label tries to achieve or is interested in: x is what the X movement strives for eg. sustainability is what the Sustainability movement strives for ie. Sustainability encompasses the protection of the environment and people, peace, and end to poverty, the meeting of human needs, enhancement of human wellbeing, promotion of happiness, etc., etc., etc. Furthermore any of these types of definitions can be framed in a more general or a narrower context eg. applied to whole systems eg. society and the environment or just to specific contexts eg. the environment of a particular species, or to specific human communities or a particular economy. The last three types of definition can be useful as they are carefully expressed so it is  clear what sort of context they are creating.But if they are written using words that See Susan Murcotts list of definitions of sustainable development in the Reference section. Where sustaining is used as an adjective (not as a verb). suggest that they are type , or dictionary-style, definitions then these types of definitions usually cause significant confusion. For example, the type definition the achievement of sustainability requires, for example, the integration of environmental, social and economic issues is usually presented as if it were a type definition ie. sustainability is the integration of environmental, social and economic issues.This produces the absurd implication that if we simply consider environmental, social and economic issues together that this somehow generates a sustainability outcome.Often the opposite is true because the issues are traded off against each other and one or more of the objectives are not adequately fulfilled leading to a decline (unsustainability) in the domains traded off. So in this case, a lack of clarity in the expression of the definition leads to a substitution of means for ends and the outcome is unsustainability. The much-used Brundtland definition of sustainable development is a type definition, that is, it describes what theoutcome will be of pursuing sustainable development.The wording that is universally used is â€Å"sustainable developmentis development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†.But this is in fact a not-careful-enough paraphrasing of the original in the Brundtland report which read: â€Å"Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.† (definition quoted from p. of the Brun dtland Report).The Brundtland statement should have been paraphrased along the followinglines: â€Å"sustainable development can under the right circumstances result in the needs of the present being met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†. This formulation then focuses peoples attention on what is to be sustained, what needs are to be met in different generations and what strategies are to be applied to get the desired outcomes. Not only is definitional clarity important but so is maintaining a strong relationship between the core meaning of words and their various derived forms.For example, the terms sustainability and sustainable development are now used interchangeably by many people.For some, the motivation fordoing this is to find a shorter term to substitute for sustainable development.Others prefer to use the term sustainability as a synonym for sustainable development because they dont like talking about development since in their experience it has negative connotations either for themselves or for others.  But the end result is that two terms that originally had distinctly different meanings which served practical communication purposes are now blurred into each other thus losing the distinction of meaning. Or sustainable development. Sustainability is about continuity and development is about change. There are manythings about life that we want to sustain (maintain) and many that we want to change.So it makes sense to create the notion of sustainable development that combinesdesired change and desired continuity -for example we might change exploitation,unhappiness, poverty, destructiveness, etc.and sustain the rest of nature, trust, tolerance, honesty, happiness, health, etc.Treated in this waysustainable development doesnt have to be an oxymoron (a combination of conflicting terms). While theory says that sustainable development does not have to be an oxymoron, it can sometimes take quite a bit of negotiation before a whole society can be comfortable with a shared definition of what should be maintained and what should be changed. Developing a preferred definition of environmental sustainability The meanings of words gain their legitimacy from shared use, so in the final analysis there are no independently correct meanings, just meanings that are well understood by many people But words also help to shape our understandings and then our. actions, so the key question is not what is the correct definition? but what do we want environmental sustainability to mean, what would be most desirable? How we choose to answer this questiondepends critically on our preference for treating environmental sustainability as either a practical goal or a utopian concept. The historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee wrote in A study of history () that: The twentieth century will be chiefly remembered by future generations not as an era of political conflicts or technical inventions, but as an age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective. Sometimes the meaning of words can evolve into almost their opposite.For example terrific used to mean to c ause extreme terror now it most often means extraordinarily good.The linking meaning was probably exciting eg. the roller coaster ride was terrific†. The quote by English historian Arnold J. Toynbee was used in Lester B. Pearsons Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in . (Pearson won for introducing the concept of peacekeeping through the United Nations.)From: http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates//pearson-lecture.html This could be extended so that we think of our present era as being distinguished as the age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of both the whole human race and the whole planet as a practical objective. If this is so then we can perhaps put aside the idea of seeingenvironmental sustainability as a utopian concept and, instead, opt for seeing it as a practical objective, that is, something to be both aspired to and achieved. But we should be doubly practical. We want to be able to use a definition of environmental sustainability that: makes it easier for us to get things done (the first practicality) and we want the definition to help us focus our minds on getting the most important or relevant things done (the second practicality). To help in getting things done a definition of environmental sustainability will need to: facilitate communication between all the people who need to be involved in the issue make it easier to identify actions that need to be taken in order to achieve environmental sustainability Before exploring how thechoice of definition ofenvironmental sustainabilitycan help us be doubly practical we need to identify some definitional choices that we can apply our choice-criteria to. Some of the basic types of definitions of environmental and sustainability that are used currently are: environmental. referring to just the biological environment referring to all possible environments(contexts) eg. social, economic, physical,intellectual referring to the physical environment including thebiological, the geomorphological environment and theconstructed and cultural physical environments sustainability.. meaning the integration or balancing of social, environmental and economic issues,or programs or actions based on stakeholder or community consultation meaning sustainable development or making people better off in an ethically sound way meaning the ability to sustain something. How should we select among these options if we want to facilitate communication? There is really no sectorof the economy or group of people in the community that should be uninvolved in efforts to achieveenvironmental sustainability.Soifitis possible to use simple definitions that are in common usage throughout the whole community there is a good chance that most people will be able to understand each0 other.Also definitions that are widely spread in the community are likely to be more stable because drifts in meaning that emerge in small groups are not likely to be taken up by the whole population. The compound-concept ofenvironmental sustainability is not widely used in the community, nor is the word sustainability.But the core concept to sustain is widely used, and the term environmentor environmental is widely used.In common usage to sustain means tokeep something going or maintain something.Environment means, incommon usage, either the context or surroundings of something, or itmeans, more specifically, the physical environment.Clearly the Parliament of Victoria, when it passed the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Act 00, was using the word environment in the sense of the physical environment rather than more universal meaning of the context for anything. How can our choice of definition make it easier to identify actions to take to achieve environmental sustainability? Having an action focus, especially where the aim is actually to achieve desired outcomes, means that it is not helpful touse definitions that are fuzzy or based on logical confusion.So treating sustainability and sustainable development as synonyms (ie. as having the same meaning) is not likely to be a good idea.Adding the word sustainable to development must change the type of development we are talking about otherwise why would we bother talking about sustainable development if we could more conveniently just use the word development?So if we say that sustainability has the same meaning as sustainable development what we saying in logical terms is: Concept A= Concept A + Concept B In other words it doesnt make any logical sense at all! This sort of definitional fuzziness and confusion can only persist where people are not trying to be clear about what they are talking about.And indeed some people argue that sustainability is anunattainable goal so they are not greatly fussed about the details of the definition that they use. (That is, they treat environmental sustainability as a Utopian concept rather than a practical goal.) However, if we want to use a definition ofenvironmental sustainability that makes action easier then we should avoid confusions like defining sustainability as sustainable development. How can our choice of definition help us focus our minds on gettingthe most important or relevant things done? We can only answer this by going back to what motivated societys interest in environmental sustainability in the first place.The historical record makes it clear that people became concerned aboutenvironmental sustainability when they discovered tha t aspects of the environment that they loved or depended on for survival or quality of life were threatened with extinction or serious degradation.There was an urgent concern about loss that made people think about sustainability.Were they originally thinking about integrating environmental, social and economic issues?Not at all.They were worrying about maintaining or keeping going something that they valued.How then did the ‘integration or ‘balance definition emerge?After some years of trying to achieve environmental sustainability people realised that unless they also dealt with the interacting social and economic issues they would simply not succeed in achieving their environmental goals.But did this practical/pragmatic (and perhaps ethical) realisation, change peoples environmental goals? Not really. So why did some people then change the definition of environmental sustainability to mean the integration of environmental, socialand economic issues? It was most likely because their practical focus of attention had shifted to the integration issue and they inadvertently made a classic mistake of confusing means with ends (ie. methods with goals) There is another issue that bears on thequestion of getting the most important or relevant things done.Andthat is, in what way does environmental qualify the notion of sustainability when they are compounded?Doesenvironmental sustainabilityimply the sustainability of thewhole physical environment?Or just parts of it?From a practical point of view the physical environment is so inclusive that no real-lifeenvironmental sustainabilityprogram would everset out to sustain and maintain every aspect.If we tried to do that we would, for example, freeze in place or maintain the distribution and abundance of pest plants and animals, the reduced distribution and abundance of native species, coal-fired power stations and an excessive allocation of land and resourcesto road-based transport, dangerous and resource inef ficient buildings, over-built flood plains, etc. Societys are always selective about what they want to sustain even if the agenda for action is still a huge one (eg. maintaining life support systems, maintaining quality of life, keeping native species going, maintaining the resource-base for the economy, etc.). Finally, if we are concerned to get the most important or relevant things done, what definitions should we rule out? Definitions of sustainability such as the integration or balancing of social, environmental and economic issues, or programs or actions based on stakeholder or community consultation no longer seem appropriate and definingenvironmental sustainability as applying to absolutely everything in the physical environment no longer seems useful. Pulling all these issues together, it is now possible to propose a preferred definition for environmental sustainability as follows: environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain things or qualities that arevalued in the physical environment . This happens because people have a way of expressing themselves that goes like this: environmental sustainability is all about .(insert the practical action or implication of their choice).Then people forget that this is not a definitional statement and they go on to treat it as one. A compatible suite of sustainability terms This suite of words has been developed to distinguish: between what is doing the sustaining and what it is being sustained ie. between means and ends the scope of what is being sustained Word (form) Meaning Suggested usage Incompatible usage sustain (verb) means to maintain something through time; to keep it going; to extend its duration eg. communities are working to sustain ecosystem services, or quality of life or other species sustainability (noun) means the ability or capability to sustain (maintain) something eg. will this community ach ieve sustainability for the things that it wants to persist through time (adjective) means related to or having to do with sustainability eg. a sustainability action plan is an action plan about sustainability not an action plan that can be kept in operation over an extended period sustainable (adjective) means able to be sustained, durable or able to be maintained (note: in this meaning the noun that the word is attached to is the thing that is sustained) eg. a sustainable policy is a policy that is kept in force over an extended period not a policy about sustainability sustaining (adjective) means having the propensity or tend