Welcome to the GCLS Resource Guide on sustainability.
This guide provides a general overview of the concept of sustainability as well as eco-friendly tips and resources for businesses and homes.
Definition of Sustainability: According to the EPA, "Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. To pursue sustainability is to create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations (EPA, 2022)."
In other words, humans must use resources from the natural environment in order to survive. To use natural resources sustainably means that nature is able to replenish them at a rate that is greater than or equal to the rate at which they are consumed.
To provide a framework for understanding how today's choices will affect current and future generations across the globe, the concept of sustainability is often broken down into the three E's: Economy, Ecology/Environment & Equity. Per the American Library Association's Social Responsibilities Round Table,
1. Economy is the management and use of resources to meet household and community needs.
2. Ecology is the pattern of relationships between living things and their environment. We all know our shoe size. How many of us know the size of our “ ecological footprint,” the amount of air, land, and water it takes to support us?
3. Equity is fairness. Ideally everyone in a community shares in its well-being. Where there is equity, decisions are based on fairness and everyone (regardless of race, income, sex, age, language, sexual orientation, or disability) has opportunities and is treated with dignity.
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Commission Director
Frank J. DiMarco
Commission Library Liaison
Joann Gattinelli