Sustainability Atlas of Texas Ecoregions

Abstract

Since the introduction of the triple bottom line sustainability assessment accounting, a variety of\rapproaches have been developed to quantify sustainability using the three axes of social, economic\rand environmental sustainability. The aim of this atlas is to assess the sustainability of Texas\rnatural ecoregions: the Piney Woods, the Gulf Prairies and marshes, the Post Oak Savanah, the\rBlackland Prairies, the Cross Timbers, the South Texas Plains, the Edwards Plateau, the Rolling\rPlains, the High Plains and the Trans-Pecos, by identifying a set of indicators. These are unemployment,\rchildren in poverty, severity of housing problems, daily PM2.5 concentrations, population\raffected by drinking water violation, total water use, organic production, non-obesity and attainment\rof post-secondary education. Despite the limitations of inherent inaccuracies and temporal\rlimitation, the assessment points to issues that negatively affect the environmental sustainability\rof Texas ecoregions. Continual assessment is recommended to optimize the atlas.