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Self-sustainability

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Self-sustainability

Self-sustainability and self-sufficiency are overlapping states of being in which a person, being, or system needs little or no help from, or interaction with others. Self-sufficiency entails the self being enough (to fulfill needs), and a self-sustaining entity can maintain self-sufficiency indefinitely. These states represent types of personal or collective autonomy. A self-sufficient economy is one that requires little or no trade with the outside world and is called an autarky.

Self-sustainability is a type of sustainable living in which nothing is consumed other than what is produced by the self-sufficient individuals. Self-sustainability is a comprehensive approach to sustainable living that extends beyond mere environmental responsibility to encompass economic independence, reduced reliance on major corporations, and minimizing environmental impact through personal actions. Examples of attempts at self-sufficiency in North America include simple living, food storage, homesteading, off-the-grid, survivalism, DIY ethic, and the back-to-the-land movement.

Practices that enable or aid self-sustainability include autonomous building, permaculture, sustainable agriculture, and renewable energy. The term is also applied to limited forms of self-sustainability, for example growing one's own food or becoming economically independent of state subsidies. The self-sustainability of an electrical installation measures its degree of grid independence and is defined as the ratio between the amount of locally produced energy that is locally consumed, either directly or after storage, and the total consumption.

Key self-sustainability practices include:

A system is self-sustaining (or self-sufficient) if it can maintain itself by independent effort. The system self-sustainability is:

Self-sustainability is considered one of the "ilities" and is closely related to sustainability and availability. In the economics literature, a system that has the quality of being self-sustaining is also referred to as an autarky.

Self sustainability supports mental and physical well-being. When individuals are self sustaining, it creates a sense of autonomy which gives them purpose. Therefore, this kind of lifestyle can lead an individual to have more of a sense of competence and control, thus boosting both their mental and physical health. Research indicates that higher levels of depressive symptoms actually are associate with lower self sufficiency in daily life. Moreover, self-sufficiency has been linked to improve mental and physical health outcomes.

Autarky exists whenever an entity can survive or continue its activities without external assistance. Autarky is not necessarily economic. For example, a military autarky would be a state that could defend itself without help from another country.

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