Global Politics: Global Environment

From the World Book Online:

Sustainability is the ability of an activity or way of life to continue over the long term without exhausting resources, damaging the environment, or harming people. Sustainability is an important concept in ecology, engineering, and a variety of other disciplines. Currently, humans are using up natural resourcessuch as forests, soil, and fresh water faster than they can be replenished. People and industries create pollutants and other waste products faster than the environment can safely absorb them. Much technology relies on dwindling supplies of  nonrenewable resources, such as oil, coal, and certain metals and minerals, which cannot be replaced once used. For these reasons, many believe that humanity’s current way of life is not sustainable.