Sustainability metrics

Derived from the Latin, sustenare, which means to keep or to hold up, the word sustainability is used (actually overused) today in everything from chewing gum commercials, to pesticide ads, to university Ph.D. programs, and even to certain soil survey research projects. Chances are, it has even found its way into your facility's mission statements, or even to your own goal documents.

But how do you meet a goal whose definition is so vague as to be almost meaningless? How…