Sustainability has been described in many ways:
- Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Our Common Future, World Commission on Environment & Development, 1983 - Living well within the limits of nature.
Mathis Wackernagel, author of Sharing Nature’s Interest - Using natural, financial and human resources in a responsible manner that meets existing needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
City of Corvallis Sustainability Policy, 2004
Here’s what you can do to get informed:
- Go to Action Teams on this website.
Find a topic area of interest to you, then go to that team’s “Resources” page and explore. - Join our community mailing list.
We host and moderate a very active Google Group email list where our partners can share activities, events and community resources. It’s not a discussion forum but readers can see who posted the message and follow up with them. Please read the guidelines for use of the list first, then go directly to the Google Group to subscribe or read online. - Check out the following list of resources.
We’ve put this list together to help you get started. Please let us know if you have suggestions for additional resources.
Websites
- Ecochallenge.org
- Sightline Institute
- The Natural Step
- The Sustainability Policy Framework, American Planning Association
Books
- Believing Cassandra: An Optimist Looks at a Pessimist’s World, Alan AtKisson
- Blessed Unrest, Paul Hawken
- Dancing with the Tiger: Learning Sustainability Step by Natural Step, Brian Nattrass & Mary Altomare
- The Green Collar Economy, Van Jones
- Green Gone Wrong, Heather Rogers
- The Isis Agreement, Alan AtKisson
- The Limits to Growth: the 30-year Update, Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jorgen Randers
- Natural Assets, James K. Boyce & Barry Shelley
- The Natural Step for Communities, Sarah James & Torbjorn Lahti
- The Natural Step Story, Karl-Henrik Robert
- Plan B: Rescuing a Planet under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble, Lester Brown, 2003
- The Sustainable Planet, edited by Juliet Schor & Betsy Taylor, 2002
- This Place on Earth 2001: Guide to a Sustainable Northwest, Alan Durning
- Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century, edited by Alex Steffen, 2006
- World on the Edge, Lester Brown