What are the 4 Principles of Sustainability?

The term sustainability universally refers to the efforts taken to preserve our natural world. However, it usually emphasizes the environmental aspect, ignoring the other essential elements that contribute to sustainability. These include the four distinct pillars or areas that ultimately lead to sustainability. The human, social, economic, and environmental eventually forms the four pillars of sustainability.

Many sustainable brands focus on one or two of these four pillars of sustainability. However, we at Paaduks ensure in taking our eco-conscious footsteps forward by emphasizing all four pillars to achieve sustainable efforts from our sourcing and production processes to our packaging and delivery.

Before getting into how we achieve socio-economic and environmental sustainability.

Let us take a closer look at the 4 principles of sustainability:

• Human Sustainability
• Social Sustainability
• Economic Sustainability
• Environmental Sustainability

Human sustainability

Human sustainability aims to maintain and improve the human capital in society. Investments in the health and education systems, access to services, nutrition, knowledge, and skills are all programs under human sustainability. Natural resources available are limited, and there is a need to balance continual growth with improvements to health by achieving economic wellbeing for everyone.

In business, an organization will view itself as a member of society and promote business values that respect human capital. Communities around the globe may be positively or negatively affected by business activities or impacted through methods used to source raw materials. Human sustainability encompasses the development of the human capacity to support the organization’s functions and sustainability and promote the wellbeing of society.

Social sustainability

Social sustainability aims to preserve social capital by investing and creating services that constitute the framework of our society. The concept accommodates a larger view of the world concerning communities, cultures, and globalization. It means preserving future generations and acknowledging what we do can impact others and the world.

Social sustainability focuses on maintaining and improving social quality with cohesion, reciprocity, honesty, and the importance of relationships amongst people. It can be encouraged and supported by-laws, information and shared ideas of equality and rights.

The principle of sustainable development addresses social and economic improvement that protects the environment and supports equality, and therefore the economy and society and the ecological system are mutually dependent.

Economic sustainability

Economic sustainability aims to maintain the capital intact. If social sustainability focuses on improving social equality, economic sustainability seeks to enhance the standard of living.

Maintaining high and stable levels of economic growth is one of the critical objectives of sustainable development. Abandoning economic growth is not an option. But sustainable development is more than just economic growth—the quality of growth matters and the quantity.

Environmental sustainability

The environmental pillar is possibly the world’s most enormous problem because it can make or break the environmental quality and natural resource extraction rates indefinitely. As the environmental resource depletes, human welfare by the society and economic production invariably reduces.

Environmental sustainability aims to improve human welfare through the protection of natural resources. An environmentally sustainable program ensures that the current generation’s needs are sufficiently met without compromising that of future generations. Environmental sustainability is measured on businesses’ propensity to achieve positive economic outcomes without harming the environment in the long run.

The four pillars of sustainability state that to achieve environmental sustainability, it is crucial to integrate all four sustainability pillars equally. Although in some cases these may overlap, businesses need to make a strategic decision about it to incorporate the approach into their policies effectively.

How Paaduks incorporates these 4 Principles of Sustainability?

We at Paaduks abide by this principle with each fashionable and eco-forward step towards a better future. Paaduks was launched in 2013, with a unique idea – to make vegan, planet-friendly footwear using up-cycled materials. 

Since our inception, we have been committed to running an ethical and sustainable business with the vision to make shoes for better, planet-friendly living. We are the pioneers in hand-crafted engineering footwear by up-cycling & recycling discarded tyres and corks and using them as our primary materials.

We aim to achieve environmental sustainability by ensuring environmentally ethical production practices through upcycling old tyres, conveyor belts, and rubber mats and corks to create soles for our sustainable footwear without any chemical processes. Moreover, with our locally and ethically sourced raw materials – jute, cotton, and more – we wish to create sustainable and stylish footwear for all.

We aim to achieve socio-economic sustainability through the backbone at Paaduks – our craftsmen. At Paaduks, we have made the conscious choice to address the socio-economic issue of these cobblers who often go unseen by the economy and end up in a vicious cycle of debt and poverty. By providing them secure jobs, we ensure their skills are well credited to be financially capable and earn a respectable and deserving lifestyle. Moreover, by providing 100% unique, handmade, vegan and sustainable footwear to our customers, we make sure they receive the best quality and comfort with the satisfaction of a sustainable purchase for the right price.

Deriving its name from the traditional Sanskrit word for footwear, Paaduks follows the principles of eco-conscious consumption coupled with the desire to provide unique and sustainable footwear to society. We encourage people to look good and feel good with a conscious ethical fashion choice.

We believe in true equality for the environment with our vision for a sustainable future—the determination to deliver it.

We hope you will walk with us, step by step, towards a sustainable future.