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Sustainable Operating Strategies (SOS)
Welcome to SusOpS home page.
SusOpS is dedicated to helping, communities, businesses, organizations and individuals operate in a more sustainable manner. The term "Operating" was chosen instead of "Development" to emphasize that "Sustainable" applies not just to development but also to day to day operation.
- Sustainable Development is defined as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
- Sustainable Operation is defined as "operation that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability to meet future needs or the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
The organization The Natural Step (TNS) has established four system conditions that provide a definitive framework for a sustainable society based on the underlying supposition that it is ethically wrong to seriously compromise the capacity of the earth to support future generations. These are:-
1. Substances from the Earth’s crust can not
systematically increase in the biosphere.
This means that fossil fuels, metals, and other minerals can not be extracted at a faster
rate than their re-deposit back into the Earth’s crust.
2. Substances produced by society can not systematically increase in the biosphere.
This means that substances must not be produced at a faster rate than they can be broken
down in nature. This requires a greatly decreased production of naturally occurring
substances that are systematically accumulating beyond natural levels, and a phase-out of
persistent human-made substances not found in nature.
3. The physical basis for the productivity and diversity of nature must not be
systematically deteriorated.
This means that we cannot harvest or manipulate ecosystems in such a way as to diminish
their productive capacity, or threaten the natural diversity of life forms (bio
diversity). This requires that we critically examine how we harvest renewable resources,
and adjust our consumption and land-use practices to fall well within the regenerative
capacities of ecosystems.
4. In order to meet the previous three system conditions, there must be a fair and
efficient use of resources to meet human needs.
This means that basic human needs must be met with the most resource-efficient methods
possible, including a just resource distribution.
These four conditions and their implications guided the development of many of the sustainable operating strategies that will be presented on these pages.
If you have any comments or would like to be advised when these pages are updated please contact SusOpS