We have all heard the word sustainable over and over and over again in the last couple of years. Sustainability is a characteristic of a process or state that can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely. It has been applied to the environment and is now being used as a synonym for green or LEED. Clearly, these three words mean different things but they are interchanged when used in the environmental conversations.

Sustainable to me means quality. It is not about LEED and it is not always about green. It is about longevity. Or, according to Wikipedia, quality is non-inferiority, superiority or usefulness of something. A sustainable product would then mean that it is a quality product, superior or non-inferior product, and potentially re-usable.

Investing in better quality is a more sustainable practice. I find it equally as interesting that quality does not always mean more expensive. You don't have to go far to pick out a ton of things that are high quality and not high price. The first one that comes to mind is almost every product at Trader Joe's. Very high quality, usually a lot less expensive than other brands and ironically, often environmentally sound.

There is a lot of press about the cost of sustainability. I certainly understand that some sustainable practices cost more than non-sustainable practices. But when you look at overall quality and what you are evaluating, is it really more costly?