My foremost tryst with the concept of sustainability was in my social studies of primary classes, where it basically meant that we have an obligation to leave behind better earth for our coming generations, better than what we had inherited from our forefathers. Further, we were introduced to the concept of "3 'Rs'- reduce, reuse and recycle".
Later on, these definitions got diversified with intricate concepts of environmental conservation and developmental economics, each important in their own spheres and inevitable for human survival, getting jumbled together to conceive the concept of sustainable development.
When the time came, where my actions could independently impact the environment, in my professional capacity as a practicing designer, I found the insurmountable constraints regarding the idealistic concepts of sustainability. A rhetorical slide filled with jargon dedicated to "sustainable design" became ornamentation in our presentations solely dedicated to pushing consumerism. Periodically this very concept of sustainable development gets rebranded, repackaged, and reproduced in different forms, like the current concept of "circular economy" for giving back to nature/society is hip. But most of them are just part of the government-mandated CSR policy and on-ground they don't even bother to segregate their wastes before disposing of them at some mid-city open garbage mountains. It's not that they are evil and are insistent on executing some sinister plot, it's just that, many times they find the concept of sustainability too far-fetched and idealistic and may not be viable or affordable for them especially at small scale production facilities.
The concept of sustainability can not revolve around just the raw materials or the final products, it has to take into account the tangible and intangible processes and outcomes into account, the needs and demands of the products, the running and maintenance aspects of it, their disposability, reusability, and recyclability, it's overall carbon footprint. The necessity for the existence of a product surpasses other factors, the frequency of its application by end-users, and the absence of a more idealistic and more sustainable alternative make the product an inevitable part of our life. If something is important for the survival and existence of any single species it has to be made, for the greater good. Just to sustain life and make a living, people devoid of the luxury of choice, do undertake measures that are unsustainable for the environment. Environmental concerns can't be made a tool to restrict the improvement in the quality of common people's lives just to pacify some abstract intellectual thirst. The right balance between both of these is what sustainable development goals mean to achieve.
Eventually, for me, the discussion around the concept of sustainability is very similar to the perpetual fight between human needs and greeds. How we should be conscious of our necessities and constraints and only then take all our decisions judiciously. In no way should we be exploitative of the resources within our reach and control. So the most basic unadulterated definition learned by me in primary school is what I can relate to most, reducing our consumption, reusing a product, and recycling it instead of destroying it and polluting our environment, is what sustainability means to me. It is the best way to lead a sustainable way of life and most suitable to be incorporated in everyday life of people, they stay beyond the parameters of contradictions, hypocrisies, or intellectual double standards. In this way, we could leave behind a healthier planet for our coming generations.
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