At first sight, this seems obvious, but the reality is we've been treating Nature as if it were a machine we can take apart and learn how it works. Conventional science is reductionist and specialist in approach. We train scientists to delve into smaller and smaller niche subjects, so they know a lot about a little and precious little about the META, the big picture. René Descartes, in 'Treatise on Man', p.108, wrote: "I should like you to consider that these functions (including passion, memory, and imagination) follow from the mere arrangement of the machine’s organs every bit as naturally as the movements of a clock or other automaton follow from the arrangement of its counter-weights and wheels." We tend to operate in silos at the micro level and miss what is becoming clearer and clearer - Nature, and indeed the Universe is made up of systems, not moving parts. Our own bodies are systems. In the case of our bodies, a resilient system capable of fending off germs, functioning in a wide range of temperatures and variations in the food supply, repairing cuts, compensating in some cases for missing or broken parts, changing metabolic rate with an intelligence that can learn! Quite elegant! Deconstructing Nature to learn how it works can only take us so far. To really understand the nature of Nature, we need to start thinking in terms of systems within systems. In our Classroom, we will go into this in more detail in the Reframing Unsustainability course. As we seek to look at businesses and how they might be reorganized to become more sustainable, these distinctions in how we seek to understand Nature's sustainability and apply this to our unsustainable businesses is an important change in approach.

These terms, Sustainability, Sustainable Development and Sustainable Business are often used interchangeably as if they are representing the same topic. They are really quite different. It’s a good practice to be precise with your use of language. in this way you will be better understood as you communicate more clearly. Sustainability - is simply the ability to sustain something, anything. It’s the generic catch-all word that is most often used without any reference to what it is that is trying to be sustained! The first question I ask of my business coaching and consulting clients who want to work on "sustainability: is: What are you trying to sustain? Sustainable Development is a term first coined by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development in its 1987 report: “Our Common Future”. Many people can recall the opening sentence of Chapter 2: Towards Sustainable Development. “Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This is only the macro overview. Sustainable Development is actually two concepts. 1. The concept of ‘needs’. In particular the essential needs of the world’s poor, to which overriding priority should be given. 2. The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs. It is the second of these concepts that is most often thought of when the term ‘sustainable development’ is used. We ought not to neglect the first concept! “Sustainable Business” is another, different concept. We’ve taken the generic idea of sustaining something and added specificity in that we are directing our sustainability activity towards a business. This is the 'macro' view. Now for the 'meso' levels. Exactly which aspects of business are we aiming to sustain? Typically for businesses, the 3 E’s (Economy, Equity and Environment) or the 3 P’s (People, Planet and Profit) have been suggested.

Sustainability is defined as the ability to sustain. If a business is to thrive and remain in business, it needs to sustain itself. This is more, much more than just sustaining the business financially. The right to be in business is given to a business by society. To retain the right to be in business it is necessary to meet all applicable legislation and regulations and to retain the trust of society that the business is operating in the best interests of society. This brings in a moral and ethical element to business sustainability. In todays wired global internet-connected world, bad news spreads almost instantly. By acting in more sustainable ways, and by communicating openly, transparently, and honestly, companies can build trust that can stand them in good stead if, and when issues arise where society is challenging their right to stay in business.