>So we have a term that means what we want it to mean.

Doesn't "sustainability" simply mean that a method can be used for multiple 
generations while leaving the system (both immediate, and the larger) in at 
least as good a shape as it began at?  (This of course assumes that Dick 
allows us future generations)

I practice "leave no trace" camping.  That model could apply for both our 
lifestyles and businesses.  The question to ask ourselves is, "Does what I 
do leave the next generations as good a world as I inherited?"

To pull this thread back to beekeeping, we might ask whether our current 
beekeeping practices will work in the long term, without nonrenewable 
inputs.

Clearly, synthetic acaricides are not sustainable, since they will be 
effective against only a relatively few generations of varroa.
Clearly, migratory beekeeping requiring massive input of diesel fuel is not 
sustainable.
In the short term, both are cost effective.  But that doesn't mean that we 
shouldn't be looking ahead to the long term.

Randy Oliver 

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