An interesting aid to what is within the scope of each of us:

THE NATURAL STEP CONDITIONS

The Four System Conditions…
In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing:
1. concentrations of substances extracted from the earth’s crust   
2. concentrations of substances produced by society          
3. degradation by physical means, and         
4. in that society, people are not subject to conditions that systemically undermine their capacity to meet their needs          

Reworded as The Four Principles of Sustainability
To become a sustainable society we must…
1.eliminate our contribution to the progressive build-up of substance extracted from the Earth’s crust (for example, heavy metals and fossil fuels)
2. eliminate our contribution to the progressive build-up of chemicals and  compounds produced by society (for example, dioxins, PCBs, and DDT )
3. eliminate our contribution to the progressive physical degradation and destruction of nature and natural processes (for example, over harvesting forests and paving over critical wildlife habitat); and
4. eliminate our contribution to conditions that undermine people’s capacity to meet their basic human needs (for example, unsafe working conditions and not enough pay to live on).

Yours, Peter