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The UN defined sustainability in 1983 as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." See Brundtland Commission on Wikipedia. This issues covers literally all aspects of life including politics, where and how we acquire our food, how we get to work and how we build our buildings.

Something that is sustainable can be used for generations without either running out (as a resource) or hurting our chances of survival by making the Earth uninhabitable. For example, crude oil is a finite resource that cannot be sustained as our primary transportation fuel source nor even as a lubricant in the millions of factories and robots that depend on crude oil for their existence. Therefore, our dependence on crude oil is unsustainable.

To describe certain important cycles such as the nitrogen cycle and the creation and depletion of crude oil reserves, scientists can quantitatively analyze these sustainability issues using computer models.

Another important aspect/example of sustainability is the idea, ‘think locally not globally.’

Paul Reitan, of the University at Buffalo writes, “Successfully sustainable human societies must be as attuned as possible to their local and regional environments…each adjusted to fit their area, not a single dominant culture or way of living spread across the globe.” ejournal.nbii.org/vol1iss1/communityessay.reitan.pdf

An example of thinking locally is shopping at locally owned shops versus multinational corporate chains which are unsustainable because of the massive amounts of fuel used to transport their products around the world. In many ways the whole idea of globalism and the politics involved is unsustainable because it does not focus on the unique needs of the individual local communities but attempts to rubber stamp the entire world with the same policy.

Some economists argue that thinking about sustainability is good for business and the economy because if your factory is more efficient you will save money and be more productive. Another example is how aluminum manufacturers pay to recycle our aluminum because it’s cheaper to recycle aluminum than to mine bauxite and make new aluminum.

Another aspect of sustainability implied by the definition is that unsustainable societies will eventually collapse.

In “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” Pulitzer Prize winning author Jared Diamond claims that a society's own responses to its environmental problems is the number one factor leading to its collapse, and is even more important than war or loss of trading partners.

The Pentagon has warned the President that climate change is a national security threat and will destroy us. Only thinking locally will save us.

Check out Wikipedia’s sustainability entry for loads more information and links.