What is Sustainability?

From Wikipedia:

"Sustainability is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of wellbeing, which in turn depends on the wellbeing of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources."

Merriam-Webster online defines it as (paraphrased) ...using a resource in a manner so as not to deplete that resource...

Being sustainable in business is to run that business so that there is no negative impact on the environment (literally, the Planet Earth) or the people (your community, your employees, or others who are affected by your business), meet your customers' needs and demands, and still make a profit while doing so.

The definitions, metrics, and approaches related to sustainable business practices are still evolving.  If the past indicates the future, you can count on these becoming stricter, more defined, harder to achieve, and understood better by more people.  In 2009 it was a popular practice to call a business "green" and to proclaim "We're sustainable!" through the purchase of energy credits.  Offsetting your carbon footprint by paying for the energy that someone else didn't use is nice, but not a sustainable method of being sustainable!  At some point, we all have to reduce our footprints...carbon, energy usage, and waste.  The system - that's all of us together - has to shrink its footprint. 

Regardless of how vaguely defined the term is, or how inaccurately it is measured, sustainability is something that all businesses must consider now...and going forward.