When we look at sustainability issues and who’s been taking it seriously–the triple bottom line etc– the organizations that come to mind are Dell, Coca-Cola, which uses 300 billion liters of water annually, and the chemical company, BASF.

So it was interesting to see what the U.S. Army has been talking about developing a ’sustainable ethic’ in these terms:

“We must strive to become systems thinkers if we are to benefit from the interrelationships of the triple bottom line of sustainability: mission, environment, and community.”

This kind of thinking, is an indication that we are moving away from the narrow definition of sustainability into one that takes into account several human and material dimensions. The U.S. Army’s sustainable strategy defines sustainability as a way to “simultaneously meets current as well as future mission requirements worldwide, safeguards human health, improves quality of life, and enhances the natural environment.”