Development is the process of change from the situation 'now' to a situation that is perceived to be better.

Sustainable development is developing in a way that does not cause conflict either between (or within) groups, between this generation and future ones, or between the developer and the bank manager.

There are 3 'pillars' of sustainability:

Social: harmony amongst and between peoples, good governance, freedom, safety, human rights and so on

Environmental: resource exploitation that does not exceed the natural rate of replacement, no unnecessary resource use, no pollution, care for nature and so on

Economic: activities that either create enough wealth, or require little or no investment, so that they are possible within the framework of the modern economic system.

Permaculture's ethics sum it up very nicely:

Earth Care

People Care

Fair Shares

The majority of the poor areas of the planet are still rural. Systems that provide decent livelihoods for those people, which do not damage the environment are vitally important. Thus: Sustrainability promotes sustainable agriculture, intelligent design, and environmental care as a fundemental foundation of any life style.

Sustrainability seeks to promote livelihoods that are self-sufficient, and that reduce or remove dependence on others.

People live in community, and for happy and healthy communities we must live together with less conflict. People often require an external and objective person to catalyse and focus community decisions and change. Hence: Sustrainability promotes participatory methodology and the art of facilitation.

Development is about choosing how to change, and then implementing those decisions. Good choices need to be informed choices. Knowledge comes from training, communication, and sharing. Physical structures come and go, but knowledge stays. Thus Sustrainability offers training courses and project services, as a way of increasing people's access to information and knowledge, and providing choice for people to decide what is best for their lives and their place.

Environmentally and economically, it is better for one trainer to travel to a group of trainees, than for the trainees to travel to the trainer. Hence Sustrainability is a mobile service, bringing training to the places it is needed.

"Security, development and human rights are essential for people's lives" - Kofi Annan

Sustrainability sees itself as:

supporting the freedom of choice

bringing knowledge and information to help those choices be informed and intelligent

training catalysts for change

and promoting self-sufficiency and independance

in order to become SUSTAINABLE