The US Academy of Sciences and Robert Kates offers a clear point of departure and defines Sustainability Science as “an emerging field of research dealing with the interactions between natural and social systems, and with how those interactions affect the challenge of sustainability: meeting the needs of present and future generations while substantially reducing poverty and conserving the planet’s life support systems.” source 
. (PNAS December 6, 2011, vol. 108, no. 49, 19449–19450 link ).