The cyclical nature of sustainability

As demonstrated today in class, sustainability is cyclical in its nature. For a practice to be completely sustainable one must be able to repeat it endlessly. In today's world this seems nearly impossible, as even recycling things uses a nonrenewable resource-water. Therefore, our "sustainable practices" must simply strive to come as close to being as completely sustainable as possible. The 1987 UN conference defines sustainable developments as those that "meet the needs of the future generation without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their needs." Although this definition is admirable and we still have yet to met this definition of sustainable development around the world, it is far to focused solely on humans. One must simply refer to nature to discover the epitome of sustainability. Again a cyclical model comes to mind. Animals die and decomposers use the energy stored in them, while creating soil which sustains plants and thus the relatives of the animal which died, as well as many others. It is quite obvious that everything is related, and therefore we must not base our definition on ourselves and our descendants alone. Because of this, a connection and sense of oneness with our environment are closely tied in with the idea of sustainability. This connection allows for a more sustainable world view as one relates to not only other humans, but also to other species. We must realize our dependence on many things other than ourselves to truly realize the implications of not being sustainable.
Coming from Austin, sustainability has always been a part of my community. Currently, many rallies are being held to decrease and completely end Austin's dependence on coal. Furthermore, integrating sustainable practices have much effect on any community. If it is done poorly, only the wealthy benefit. But incorporating sustainable practices have benefited poorer communities in Austin. One of the more significant of these is weatherization programs, which have been quite successful in Austin as of late. As a part of the global community, sustainability is obviously an extremely important topic, as there are many problems surrounding a lack of it.