What Sustainability Education Is to Me James Pittman’s “living
definition of sustainability” forms the foundation for my
definition of optimal sustainability education in that it offers
an integrated vision for sustainability that focuses on the
health and integrity of human/nature systems. Pittman defines
living sustainability as “the long-term equilibrium of health
and integrity maintained dynamically within any individual
system (organism, organization, ecosystem, community, etc.)
through a diversity of relationships with other systems.”
Pittman’s definition of living sustainability describes what I
call “socio-ecological living sustainability.” I use “socio-
ecological” in addition to “living” because “ecology” — the
study of the earth household — is inherently concerned with
relationships — with systems views — and these views are central
to exploring social power and exploitation. Using the term
“ecology” highlights the fact that the systems referenced in the
definition include both living and nonliving