NCED PIs contribute to NSF SEES Report

 
"A sustainable world is one in which human needs are met equitably without harm to the environment, and without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs."

NSF has developed a new foundation- wide paradigm, Science, Education and Engineering for Sustainability (SEES) with the mission “To advance science, engineering, and education to inform the societal actions needed for environmental and economic sustainability and sustainable human well-being.”

The SEES program lies at the intersection of two themes that are central to ESP research: the environment and the long-term view inherent in the concept of sustainability. The “environment” means different things to different people, but we stress that the Earth’s surface is the environment—the arena in which most life and human activity unfolds. Sustainability also can be defined in different ways, but a common central theme is meeting current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs: use without using up. Central themes in sustainability include learning to live and work with natural processes; developing renewable resources; and adapting our resource use to a shifting mosaic of natural landscape dynamics.