Sustainability and the triple bottom line

Author - Suzanne Gooding

Sustainability can have different meanings depending on your source, your purpose or your agenda.  I don't intend to tackle the definition of sustainability in a definitive way; however, I will offer you my view of sustainability.  From my viewpoint, sustainability is about protecting the triple bottom line.  The triple bottom line refers to the environmental, economic and social resources of any community.  In theory, it is fairly simple to protect one component of the triple bottom line while ignoring the other two components.  It is extremely difficult to nurture all three components simultaneously without harming any of them.  This is my version of sustainability.  When communities, organizations and people succeed at protecting the triple bottom line, I am inspired.  Creativity and collaboration are powerful forces when combined to address community issues. If this occurs while uplifting people and expanding economic resources, it is phenomenal. I hope to find examples of this and share them with you.   

Photo Credit: Sustainability Branch