The origin of the term sustainability

Everyone is talking about sustainability, but what exactly does the term mean and who coined it? How can sustainability be achieved and is this goal even worth pursuing? Geographer Dr Karsten Gäbler and biology education expert apl. Prof. Dr Uwe Hoßfeld have explored these questions. The two scientists from Friedrich Schiller University Jena have taken a close look at the concept of sustainability in the series »Die Geschichte hinter dem Bild« (The history behind the picture), which is published by the Thuringian State Agency for Civic Education. The brochure has just been published in a print run of 1,500 copies and is available free of charge from the State Agency.

An attempt to calculate the future

»When it comes to sustainability, the core question is always how we want to live together,« says Dr Karsten Gäbler. Sustainability is therefore a genuinely political issue that affects all parts of society. Uwe Hoßfeld finds it astonishing that the term sustainability, which originally came from forestry, has had such a successful career: »Everyone talks about sustainability, even though for many the word remains rather empty!« Many sustainability labels have long been suspected of greenwashing, says Hoßfeld.

In its original meaning, sustainability refers to keeping things running in the long term. The Saxon mining administrator and student at the University of Jena, Hannß Carl von Carlowitz, is considered to be the originator of the modern-day buzzword, which he first used in 1713 in his work »Sylvicultura Oeconomica. Oder: Haußwirthliche Nachricht und Naturmäßige Anweisung zur Wilden Baum-Zucht« (Economic news and instructions for the natural growing of wild trees). Carlowitz, an administrative official, was by no means concerned with protecting nature, but rather with ensuring the enormous demand for timber in the long term. »It was not ecology, but economics that inspired the term«, says Uwe Hoßfeld.

The aim was to secure future demand based on current needs. »Sustainability thinking is an attempt to deal with scarcity and make the future available«, says Karsten Gäbler. However, in view of today's challenges—keyword climate change—this remains illusory. Because non-linear systems prove to be unpredictable and tipping points are irreversible, adaptation and resilience need to be increasingly considered, says Karsten Gäbler. »It is questionable whether the concept of sustainability is still suitable as a guiding principle today.«

A sustainable approach to the sustainability brochure

The new brochure on sustainability is now available from the State Agency for Civic Education. Uwe Hoßfeld and Karsten Gäbler want to see it used in a truly sustainable way: their primary target group is teachers, who will pass on their knowledge of sustainability as multipliers.