What really is Sustainability?

What really is Sustainability? Will someone please clarify what constitutes sustainability? Of course I know that "sustainability" is currently the "it" word of the decade and I am more than aware that when "sustainability" is used in the same breath as agriculture it can make farming issues all warm and fuzzy and especially palatable for the metropolitan crowd. "Sustainability" commonly accompanies dialog pertaining to the environment. The "S" word can pop up routinely in discussions regarding U.N. relief work or economic development in third world countries. It appears magically each day on my computer screen in headlines like, GOVERNMENT TO LAUNCH SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY or LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY. Listen closely and you will hear celebrities like Bono frequently pepper their conversation with the word. In my quest to comprehend sustainability, my first stop was Webster's Dictionary where it was defined as; "relating to or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged, or relating to a lifestyle involving the use of sustainable methods." The word became vogue in the nineties, where it was initially introduced at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, from there it was quickly picked up and used by environmentalists and governments. Others have described sustainability as "about living, working and ordering society in ways which are environmentally "sustainable", encouraging reduction of pollution, re-use of resources, promoting biodiversity etc. The core idea is that "current generations should meet their needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". So who fits the above definitions? I would question if the majority on board the sustainability bandwagon do! Practicing recycling and refraining from using commercial chemicals while admirable, does not automatically make you a card-carrying member of the "sustainability" club. Sustaining in itself denotes a durational effort that includes time. This is where I believe many fall short. The fact that House and Garden magazine featured Mary Jane Butters' five acre farm in Moscow's Idaho's wheat growing region, the Palouse, as a prime example of "sustainable" agriculture, while calling the thousands of acres of wheat surrounding it a "monoculture of chemically nurtured wheat" puzzled me. Ms Butters has been farming (what most of us would consider an oversized garden) for a mere 16 years. Will her farm continue to be productive for another twenty, fifty or even one hundred? A more fitting description of sustainability is found in the thousands of acres of wheat that surrounds her mini-farm. For over a hundred years, the Palouse region has abundantly produced some of the highest quality wheat in the world, financially sustaining the local community while nutritionally sustaining an international one. The ability of soil that has been turned for generations to continue to yield even more per acre today is evidence that resources are not depleted. So who is the real sustainable farmer? The April issue of Food and Wine Magazine called Steve Ells founder of the successful Chipotle restaurant chain a "huge advocate of sustainable farming" because he uses "humanely raised pork" as one of his ingredients... The ranchers I know treat their livestock "humanly" yet would fail to meet his criteria for "sustainalbity" because Mr. Ells purportedly purchases products only from "small family farms". When did "small" become a component of sustainability? Mr. Ells, better known as the "margarita mogul" does not champion "small" when it comes to his own business ventures. He did not find it politically correct to own one "small" family diner; rather he basks in the success of owning one of the nation's fastest growing restaurant chains. Ironically, when a farmer or rancher has built a lucrative large operation, the media demonizes them. Somehow I doubt Arnold or Bono will ever use the word "sustainability" in the same breath with the traditional wheat farmers of the Palouse, but maybe now you and I will. Winston Churchill once said, "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." Let us not stumble over "perceived" truth being spoon fed to us by a bias media rather lets make a united effort to acknowledge the farmers and ranchers that practice true sustainability.