The Difference Between Green and Sustainability

In our ever-increasing desire to become a green and sustainable society we often dilute the meanings of these two key words to describe how we are reacting to the growing concern of global warming, diminishing resources and the impact on wildlife. Green and sustainable have become interchangeable in the world of enviornmental-activism, perhaps due to blind commercialism of the topic or just innocent ignorance. Either way, I believe it is important to properly define and understand these two key terms in order to best attack the global environmental issue at hand.

Here are my definitions of the two:

Green is the act of reducing emissions and ones global footprint in order to become environmentally friendly. This emphasizes the reduction of energy consumption and waste that has harmful implications for our planet.

Sustainable is when something or someone has zero impact on its environment and resources. In order for something or someone to be truly sustainable itmust be able to last forever within its givenenvironment.

Here is where the major difference lies between these two terms. Being green is a positive attempt to reduce ones emissions, while sustainability is having zero impact on ones environment. In terms of how these two words are applied to the business world, I believe it is more correct to be a green company than a sustainable one. I hope this helps clear the confusion on these two ideas and how they are applied to environmentalism.

Here is a link to a blog that helped me define these two terms and provides a much deeper analysis on how these two ideas relate to businesses and residential growth.