The one-sentence truth: Sustainability asks whether an activity can continue without eroding the environmental, economic or social conditions on which it depends.
Core vocabulary
Sustainability, resource efficiency, carrying capacity, circular economy, stewardship, resilience, regeneration, consumption, long-term viability, intergenerational equity.
Sustainability is not simply environmentalism
A policy can be environmentally beneficial but fiscally or socially difficult to sustain. Strong GP evaluation makes the dimension explicit.
Resource efficiency
Efficiency reduces resources per unit of output, but total consumption can still rise if demand expands. This is why efficiency alone does not guarantee sustainability.
Circular economy
Circular approaches aim to keep materials in use through repair, reuse and recycling, reducing waste and extraction. Feasibility depends on design and economics.
Stewardship
Stewardship implies responsibility for resources whose value extends beyond immediate private ownership or present generations.
Example sentence
“Sustainable consumption requires more than efficient products if falling unit costs encourage total consumption to rise; incentives and demand therefore matter alongside technology.”
Singapore application
Land, water, waste, food, energy and urban density offer local contexts for examining sustainability through scarcity and systems design.
Continue the JC2 GP vocabulary system
Return to General Paper Vocabulary Year 2 (JC2) and Vocabulary for Junior College (JC1–JC2).
Final thought
Sustainability is the discipline of refusing to count a present benefit while ignoring the condition that makes future benefits possible.