{"id":51049,"date":"2014-11-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-18T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/"},"modified":"2022-09-02T20:26:20","modified_gmt":"2022-09-03T01:26:20","slug":"livegreen-what-is-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"LiveGreen: What is sustainability?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since I took the sustainability manager position, I\u2019ve been excited to get so many questions from members of the UNMC\/Nebraska Medicine community about sustainability. I love that people are thinking about different ways to do things, understanding that what they do has an impact, and working to make the world a better place. <\/p>\n

Hands down, the most common question I get is \u201cWhat is sustainability?\u201d It comes from everybody, from my grandma to the graduate student down the hall. <\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n

LIVEGREEN <\/b><\/span>
\n\"picture
\n<\/TD>
\n<\/TR>
\n


\nby Melanie Stewart
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n

<\/TD>
\n<\/TR>
\n<\/TABLE>
\nIs it being green? Yes, sort of. Are you an environmental activist? Kind of. Tree-hugging hippie? No, though I have hugged a tree. But that\u2019s a story for another day . . . <\/p>\n

So with that in mind, I thought I would try to help.<\/p>\n

Here’s the Webster Dictionary definition:<\/p>\n

Sustainability:<\/b> capable of being sustained. Thanks \u201cWebster,\u201d not helpful.<\/p>\n

The Brundtland Commission<\/a>, formed by the United Nations, defined sustainability as \u201cdevelopment which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.\u201d <\/p>\n

This definitely has environmental aspects to it. It\u2019s hard to have a future meeting its needs with dirty air and water, and soil so depleted that crops won\u2019t grow. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also economic — if we spend more than we take in, how will we survive? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s about planning — monitoring trends now to avert disaster in years to come. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s about health and sustaining the quality of our own lives — which again, is hard to do if we are breathing dirty air and eating poorly. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s about ensuring that all people have access to the essentials, conserving natural resources, and looking for better ways to meet our needs. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also development — planning for real progress and responsible growth.<\/p>\n

When we plan different initiatives on campus we always look for the \u201ctriple bottom line\u201d: something that is economically feasible for the campus, has a positive impact on the environment and improves health. <\/p>\n

For example, when we conserve electricity, OPPD burns less coal. We save money on utilities (your tax dollars), and that money can be spent on our mission. Less coal burning means less pollution in the atmosphere, cleaner air to breathe, and less fuel burned to get the coal here. It\u2019s a win-win-win.<\/p>\n

Now that we have that all straightened out, I\u2019d like to hear from you. What words come to your mind when you hear sustainability? Post thoughts\/comments below or send them to me here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Look beyond the dictionary for the many aspects of sustainability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":51050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-unmc-today-todays-headlines","author_override-melanie-stewart-livegreen"],"yoast_head":"\nLiveGreen: What is sustainability?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Look beyond the dictionary for the many aspects of sustainability.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LiveGreen: What is sustainability?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Look beyond the dictionary for the many aspects of sustainability.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-18T06:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-03T01:26:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Melanie1118.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"705\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"406\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Keenan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Keenan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Keenan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17\"},\"headline\":\"LiveGreen: What is sustainability?\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-18T06:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-03T01:26:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":426,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Melanie1118.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\\\/\",\"name\":\"LiveGreen: What is sustainability?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Melanie1118.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-18T06:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-03T01:26:20+00:00\",\"description\":\"Look beyond the dictionary for the many aspects of sustainability.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Melanie1118.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Melanie1118.jpg\",\"width\":705,\"height\":406},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/18\\\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"LiveGreen: What is sustainability?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/overview-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/overview-1.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":153,\"caption\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/unmcedu\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/unmc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/instagram.com\\\/iamunmc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/UNMCEDU\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17\",\"name\":\"John Keenan\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/author\\\/02e74f10e0327ad868d138f2b4fdd6f0\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"LiveGreen: What is sustainability?","description":"Look beyond the dictionary for the many aspects of sustainability.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"LiveGreen: What is sustainability?","og_description":"Look beyond the dictionary for the many aspects of sustainability.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","article_published_time":"2014-11-18T06:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-09-03T01:26:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":705,"height":406,"url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Melanie1118.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Keenan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@unmc","twitter_site":"@unmc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Keenan","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/"},"author":{"name":"John Keenan","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17"},"headline":"LiveGreen: What is sustainability?","datePublished":"2014-11-18T06:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-03T01:26:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/"},"wordCount":426,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Melanie1118.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/","name":"LiveGreen: What is sustainability?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Melanie1118.jpg","datePublished":"2014-11-18T06:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-03T01:26:20+00:00","description":"Look beyond the dictionary for the many aspects of sustainability.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Melanie1118.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Melanie1118.jpg","width":705,"height":406},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/18\/livegreen-what-is-sustainability\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"LiveGreen: What is sustainability?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization","name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","width":500,"height":153,"caption":"University of Nebraska Medical Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","https:\/\/x.com\/unmc","https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17","name":"John Keenan","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/02e74f10e0327ad868d138f2b4fdd6f0\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81203,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51049\/revisions\/81203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}