Sustainability
Sustainability is to provide the needs of the present generation while not compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainability integrates social, environmental, and economic systems.
The term originated from ecology as the ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes, functions and productivity into the future. To be sustainable, nature's resources must only be used at a rate at which they can be replenished naturally. In recent years, scientific evidence has shown that humanity is living in an unsustainable way, by consuming Earth's limited natural resources faster than being replaced by nature.
Today, a collective human effort to keep human use of natural resources within the sustainable development aspect of the Earth's finite resource limits is an issue of great importance to the present and future of humanity. Sustainability has also become a vital asset in education, business and technology (architecture, agriculture, engineering, etc.)
Danielle Herman Fisher, Zoology
“Sustainability is creating buildings, clothing, food, jobs, etc., even lives in ways that can be maintained for generations to come without depleting the natural resources of our planet or damaging any of its fragile ecosystems, it's a system in which everyone profits.”
Tamara Armstrong, Interdisciplinary Studies focusing on Sustainability
“Sustainability is a concept: it is a way of thinking about society that considers the delicate balance between ecological, social, and economic stability.”
Vance Araki, Business
“Sustainability is our ability to sustain social, economic, and ecologic well-being; it is a value system of zero resource waste, including human and financial capital. This overarching value system seeks to design socio-economic systems that coexist harmoniously within the larger ecosystem it’s housed.”
Sustainability Programs:
The Institute for Sustainability and Resilience (ISR) provides campus-wide leadership and coordination for interdisciplinary education, research, and outreach related to climate change, environmental sustainability, and community resilience in Hawaiʻi and beyond. ISR:
- Equips students with the knowledge and skills to address critical local and global environmental challenges.
- Conducts collaborative research to address the climate crisis and other environmental change.
- Brings communities and other decision-makers together to share knowledge about environmental sustainability and community resilience.
Students can earn a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Sustainability through Interdisciplinary Studies or a Minor in Sustainability. The BA in Sustainability also supports BA+MA pathways to a Master in Geography and Environment and Master in Urban and Regional Planning. ISR also offers multi-year fellowships and scholarship opportunities.
For more information, visit the Institute for Sustainability and Resilience at Mānoa's Sustainability Degree Programs page.
Contacts:
- Makena Coffman: sustainable energy policy and climate change mitigation
- Kem Lowry: Sustainable community and marine protected area management
- Luciano Minerbi: Sustainable land use planning and environmental management
- Jim Spencer: Sustainable economic development, shelter and services
- Karen Umemoto: Community planning for sustainability
- Sharon Miyashiro: Sustainability policy in Hawai‘i
Related Links:
- University Students of Urban & Regional Planning
- Sustainable Agriculture In Hawai‘i
- www.learningforsustainability.net
- www.sustainable.org/information/jobs.html
- www.epa.gov/Sustainability
- www.sustainable.org
- www.sustainablemeasures.com
- www.sustainability.org
- www.hawaii.edu/sece
- Full Time Jobs
- Guide to Going Green at College
- Guide to Green Degrees and Careers
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