Sustainability: Principles and Practices Ch. 1: What is Sustainability?

System

A coherently organized set of interconnected elements.

Equilibrium

A state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced.

Think about a sustainability issue the planet faces, one with which you are familiar. Does the knowledge needed for finding solutions come from one academic discipline, or more than one? List the disciplines you think might be involved in addressing this issue.

A sustainability issue the planet faces is overpopulation. The knowledge needed to find solutions comes from many academic disciplines; such as biology, geology, social science, or political science.

Ecosystem Services

All life on the planet depends on ecosystems to purify air and water, pollinate crops, provide food, recycle waste, and to circulate atmospheric gases,chemical elements, and energy.

Monoculture

Strict uniformity.

Niche

The position or function of an organism in a community of plants and animals.

Carrying Capacity

To learn to live within our means ecologically, to reorganize that there are built-in limits to any system.

Ecosystem

a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

Discipline

is the people who do research or are practitioners who are involved in the practice of sustainability.

Sustainability

seeing and recognizing the dynamic, cyclical, and interdependent nature of all the parts and pieces of life on earth. Able to continue for a long time; Needs of each member of the biosphere are met without compromising ability of future generations to meet their needs.