WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY?

Sustainability is an attempt to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environments both now and into the indefinite future. One of the most often cited definitions of sustainability is the one created by the Brundtland Commission, led by the former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Sustainability relates to the continuity of economic, social, institutional and environmental aspects of human society, as well as the non-human environment.

Recently I read the question online What is sustainability?(sorry I can't find the original question) and a survey was done and a high proportion of people couldn't answer the question. I was ashamed until reading the definition on Wikipedia(above) that I too thought I couldn't define it but after reading what was written I realised that I already could.
Not doing anything to the world today that would affect the world today or in the future, for the sake of the world and the people who have to live in it. Hey, I may not be an academic but that serves my purpose.
I find the internet a very intimidating place at times, as I have said before, I have a significant memory problem and find it difficult to retain information. I also have difficult analysing anything because to do so you have to be able to retain and recall a lot of information at any one given time. Sometimes when I read a novel I have to write in the front of the book who the characters are and a little bit about them so I can remember who they are. Ariel is 17 and is on a scholarship at a private day school and has been in the same school since she was 8, state schools are split into primary and secondary and secondary starts at 11 which means that Ariel has been in one school a lot longer than most children are in one school. BUT I cannot remember who her friends are without her saying where they live, I have to be able to visualise something in my head to remember it. The reason I am telling you this is because clever people worry me and tangling with them on the internet worries me even more.
This morning one of my google alerts was an alert regarding recycling and asked why people,even when provided with adequate recycling facilities , still mix every thing up in the wrong bins.
One answer was
I BLAME BUSH
and it made me laugh.
It made me think of Jamie in Truly, Madly Deeply ,Jamie(the dead boy friend- played by the brilliant Alan Rickman)
who says 'I blame the government'
and Nina says 'what?'
'the government' replies Jamie
and Nina says 'What's the government got to do with anything?'
'I hate the bastards 'Jamie replies.

When I went onto the website of the person who blamed Bush,I realised it was written by a very clever person.
After looking at this person's blog it made me think about the question again.

Perhaps the reluctance of President Bush to commit to targets makes the gerneral population think that the environmental situation is not a serious issue.

Have you heard the following theory?- The world needs to fall into economic, ecological and political chaos for the second coming of the Messiah to happen. If this theory were beieved by religious people in positions of power then maybe they wouldn't do anything about ecological problems because they wanted the second coming to happen quicker.
Unfortunately I have heard this theory bandied about.

Many people believe that the money spent on war could be put to better use.