JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Photo: Madrid Barajas International Airport, Terminal 4. Architect: Richard Rogers. From Airport Architecture: The Most Beautiful Terminals in the World.

“Sustainability” is one of those buzzwords we hear all the time without knowing exactly what it means. Here’s a very basic definition: “Don’t use it all up, stupid.”

For instance, a sustainable environment is one in which resources are not depleted but conserved and replenished for future generations. Obviously if you cut down all the trees and replace them with condominiums, that is not sustainable. Condos don’t make oxygen or hold the soil with their roots; what they do produce are traffic jams, large amounts of garbage, high water and electricity consumption, and small children who don’t know what a tree looks like.

Be your own yaya: Sustainabilty and the socially responsible tourist, in Emotional Weather Report today in the Star.