Communities face enormous challenges as their social, economic, and environmental resources are damaged or depleted. Because these elements of communities are interconnected, there are no simple answers. In addition, whatever issues we find ourselves facing, be it disease, child abuse, crime, injustice, weakened economies, energy shortages, lack of good jobs, extinction of species, poverty, destruction of forests, pollution, breakdown of families, armed conflict, or nuclear power, there are some common threads and interconnected steps that will offer solutions to these seemingly diverse problems.

The interdependencies of the economic, environmental, and social justice elements of our world require new ways of thinking about things and taking action that will truly create a future where human society and nature coexist with mutual benefit, and where the suffering caused by poverty and natural resource abuse is eliminated.

Sustainable development calls for improving the quality of life for all of the world’s people without increasing the use of our natural resources beyond the Earth’s carrying capacity. While sustainable development may require different actions in every region of the world, the efforts to build a truly sustainable way of life require the integration of action in three key areas: