Sustainability has become a buzz word that means many things to different people. To put it in simple terms, it means to sustain an action or idea now and into the future, the ability to exist constantly without compromising future generations.

There are different pillars of sustainability: economic, social equity and environmental.

Environmental sustainability means to maintain and protect natural resources and ecosystems now and into the future.

As individuals, it means taking a proactive approach to reduce our own impact on the environment, reducing our use of natural resources and carbon emissions.

Humans impact and change the environment in many ways:

• The energy we use
• The waste we produce
• The water we use
• The purchases we make particularly food and fashion
• The way we travel

To reduce your impact on the environment we recommend you take stock of your current actions in all those areas, start with one, energy for example:

• Find out how much energy you use right now at home or work
• Find out where and when you use energy, so you can identify if it is necessary or can this be changed
• Outline a set of actions to reduce your energy use and work on making changes, go at your own pace
• Repeat this same process for waste, water, purchases and travel.

An Environmental Management System (EMS) are systems and procedures that can be implemented at a business or household that will allow you to measure, monitor and report on your impact on the environment.

EMS are usually implemented by companies and corporations, but the same principles can also be applied to households.

You can implement your own EMS at home, by measuring, monitoring and reducing your household utilities: energy, waste and water.