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URL:  http://boards.fool.com/here-are-the-defintions-i-am-working-with-17215457.aspx

Subject:  Re: What is a Sustainable Business? Date:  5/14/2002  11:12 AM
Author:  DeadheadFool Number:  1642 of 1656
Here are the defintions I am working with:

Definitions of Sustainability

Natural Step – Non-profit organization
http://www.naturalstep.org/

4 System Conditions:

1. Nature's functions and diversity are not systematically subject to increasing concentrations of substances extracted from the Earth's crust.
2. Nature's functions and diversity are not systematically subject to increasing concentrations of substances produced by society.
3. Nature's functions and diversity are not systematically impoverished by overharvesting or other forms of ecosystem manipulation.
4. Resources are used fairly and efficiently in order to meet basic human needs worldwide.

Natural Capitalism – Book by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins & Hunter Lovins
http://www.naturalstep.org/

4 Central Strategies:

1. Radical Resource Productivity
2. Biomimicry
3. Service and Flow Economy
4. Investing in Natural Capital

Cradle to Cradle – Book by William McDonough & Michael Braungart
http://www.mbdc.com/

5 Steps to Eco-Effectiveness:

1. Get “free of” known culprits
2. Follow informed personal preferences
a. Prefer ecological intelligence
b. Prefer respect
c. Prefer delight, celebration and fun
3. Create a “passive positive” list
a. The X list
b. The gray list
c. The P list (positive list)
4. Activate the positive list
5. Reinvent

5 Guiding Principles

1. Signal your intention
2. Restore
3. Be ready to innovate further
4. Understand and prepare for the learning curve
5. Exert intergenerational responsibility
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