In this workshop we defined sustainable development and discussed how success in it can be measured. Are we measuring it in terms of quality of life, economic success, or something else? Sustainable development was very generally defined as “development that satisfies the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations.” There are many different applications of sustainability depending on your viewpoint (for example, sustainable transportation vs. a sustainable curriculum from the perspective of an urban planner vs. a teacher). Some conflicts and questions we are faced with are, “What will the needs of future generations be?”, “Why should we think in terms of sustaining?” and “What if we don’t need everything we think we need?” One panelist pointed out the necessity of addressing whether we need certain products for commodity or service.

One of the greatest concerns in sustainability is the exponential growth in global population. Even more concerning is the higher occurrence of this population growth in poor countries with the least resources. Continuing to discuss levels of analysis, panelists discussed the importance of total participation of community members in order to produce real sustainable change and, in addition, the necessity to align one’s own desire for sustainable achievement with a society’s desires. As a result, it can be difficult to find solutions for a problem that people aren’t even familiar with—but in contrast to popular opinion, environmental concern is not at all related to the level of development of the country or community. This led us to ask more general questions about international development from the American perspective—should a country or community’s success be measured in terms of its resemblance to U.S.? Is the U.S. leading by example or imposing ideas onto under-developed countries?