From Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report, the Sustainable Business Network believes the definition of sustainable development is defined in the report as:
"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
In addition, key contributions of Our Common Future to the concept of sustainable development include the recognition that the many crises facing the planet are interlocking crises that are elements of a single crisis of the whole [1] and of the vital need for the active participation of all sectors of society in consultation and decisions relating to sustainable development.
In an article by the group EMRGNC, “Defining Sustainability: a Hundred Perspectives”, that gives over a hundred different definitions to sustainability. They believe Sustainability as an emergent concept reveals deep concerns about fundamental values and our own continued existence. While each personʹs definition of sustainability is seen to be the most relevant, the question is a universal one and common to all."
"Whether our definition of sustainability is anthropocentric, biocentric, egocentric, ecocentric, econocentric, sociocentric, worldcentric or perhaps simply personally eccentric, they are all valid."
John Muir said as he discovered natural America, “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” The phrase "in nature" can be substituted with "on this earth" because everything we do affects us now but especially in the future!