Sustainability 2.0

This class has made me aware of the elasticity of the word "sustainability." I'm still somewhat unsure as how to exactly define it, but I feel as if a series of examples or circumstances help one to understand it best. For instance, will fossil fuels still be available as a source of energy a hundred years from now? Will people still know of all the plants and animals we know of today? Jensen's articles really helped me to understand the concept of sustainability. He states that it is a consequence of many aspects of our culture, mainly industrial expansion. As well, people in the future are not going to care if we "tried" to make things better. They will only care that they have water to drink and air to breathe. Thus, are our individual efforts causing any sense of change at all? This is the question that I still wonder. I think that the action of living sustainable is a definitely a step in the right direction. Living in this manner educates others, which can eventually lead to a snowball effect. If these habits reach leaders who control industrial processes, changes can be made to mitigate a large source of the problem. In essence, the basis of sustainability is stretching out our available resources throughout time so that they may be utilized for as long as possible.