Vorhaltigkeit

English translation: proactive sustainability

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:Vorhaltigkeit
English translation:proactive sustainability
Entered by: Julia Burgess

11:24 Jan 28, 2020
German to English translations [PRO]
Environment & Ecology / Sustainability
German term or phrase: Vorhaltigkeit
Specifically, what is the difference between Vorhaltigkeit and Nachhaltigkeit? How can they be distinguished?

Minimal context: key words/phrases listed by the director of an Austrian centre for arts/science who is being interviewed about the future:

Künstliche Intelligenz
Roboter
**Vorhaltigkeit statt Nachhaltigkeit**
Kreative Technologie
...

There's no mention of either term or concept in the interview text itself.

Best attempt so far: Future viability instead of sustainability (I need to keep it brief for the context).

For UK-EN
Julia Burgess
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:46
proactive sustainability
Explanation:
...as opposed to reactive sustainablity when it might be too late already...
Selected response from:

Cillie Swart
South Africa
Local time: 23:46
Grading comment
Thanks to everyone who chipped in. All your suggestions fed into my final choice for the whole phrase (A more proactive approach to sustainability), but this was perhaps the closest.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2sustaining rather than sustainable
Michael Martin, MA
5proactive sustainability
Cillie Swart
3 +1adaptability
Kartik Isaac
4Forward thinking
Jeanie Eldon
3Upstream preparation
Jonathan Whiteley
3conceiving instead of conserving/concept development, not conservation
Ramey Rieger (X)
3Planning for sustainability
Lancashireman
3preparedness
Daniel Arnold (X)
3stewardship
Veronika Neuhold
2(holding out for) pre-sustainability (ex ante)
Adrian MM.
2prophylactic ecology
Wolfgang Hager
Summary of reference entries provided
Regenerative development
oa_xxx (X)

Discussion entries: 6





  

Answers


16 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
adaptability


Explanation:
**adaptability instead of sustainability **

Perhaps adaptability or durability would describe "Vorhaltigkeit" in this context.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/08/opinion/against-sustainab...


Kartik Isaac
Switzerland
Meets criteria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Michael Martin, MA: Saw this source, too. Looking for something in a similar vein.
4 hrs
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22 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Upstream preparation


Explanation:
There is not much to go on except " Diese Aktivitäten im Vorfeld («Vorhaltigkeit»)" in a Swiss article, for which I can no longer find the link. Will keep searching.

But this is my take on an English equivalent.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 25 mins (2020-01-28 11:50:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Here is a link
https://www.yumpu.com/de/document/view/21660789/ganze-medien...

Example sentence(s):
  • Diese Aktivitäten im Vorfeld («Vorhaltigkeit») link forthcoming
Jonathan Whiteley
United States
Local time: 15:46
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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20 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Forward thinking


Explanation:
Would that fit?


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 25 mins (2020-01-28 11:50:44 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://www.urbanminer.at/urbane-minen

Example sentence(s):
  • "Forward thinking instead of sustainability" or "Forward thinking instead of intenable"
Jeanie Eldon
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:46
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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36 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
conceiving instead of conserving/concept development, not conservation


Explanation:
Something along these lines

Ramey Rieger (X)
Germany
Local time: 22:46
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 52
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27 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Vorhaltigkeit statt Nachhaltigkeit
Planning for sustainability


Explanation:
https://www.planningforsustainability.co.uk/

instead of sustainability isn't going to work in EN. It makes it sound like something undesirable. Both Vorhaltigkeit and Nachhaltigkeit mean sustainabilty, but with Vorhaltigkeit, the stress is on planning ahead. When paired with Nachhaltigkeit, it creates a play on words suggesting a meaning that is not necessarily present in the second element, namely lack of foresight.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 43 mins (2020-01-28 12:08:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Planned rather than haphazard/disorganised sustainability, i.e. instead of scrabbling around trying to clear up past mistakes. I don't think this is anything to do with "preserving the past/status quo".

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 52 mins (2020-01-28 12:16:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Hi Julia
"Sustainability planning" sounds like a DE compound noun transposed directly into EN. "Planning for sustainability" has a more natural ring to it. I think the "greater" element is understood from the context.
LG
AJS

Lancashireman
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:46
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 83
Notes to answerer
Asker: How about "greater sustainability planning"?

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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
proactive sustainability


Explanation:
...as opposed to reactive sustainablity when it might be too late already...


    https://www.google.com/search?q=Vorhaltigkeit&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGx6aVvabnAhWIDewKHZ9ADUkQ_AUoAnoECAsQBA&biw=1517&bih=730
Cillie Swart
South Africa
Local time: 23:46
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
Thanks to everyone who chipped in. All your suggestions fed into my final choice for the whole phrase (A more proactive approach to sustainability), but this was perhaps the closest.
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
(holding out for) pre-sustainability (ex ante)


Explanation:
As all readers will or should know, Vorhaltigkeit is a pun on vorhalten meaning to show or 'hold out' e.g. in court or a travel ticket on public transport.

statt Nachhaltigkeit > instead of sustainability ex post facto or after the event.

Example sentence(s):
  • Pre Sustainability. Environmental consulting and social sustainability based on life cycle thinking. Sustainability metrics for innovation, strategy...

    Reference: http://feedreader.com/observe/pre-sustainability.com
Adrian MM.
Austria
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
sustaining rather than sustainable


Explanation:
In line with especially the second source below, 'sustaining' means more forward-looking, going beyond managing (the mistakes of) historical practices and overcoming the dichotomy between economy and nature.

Compare with this:
"Der Begriff der „Vorhaltig-keit“ trifft es aus meiner Sicht besser als der Marketingbegriff Nachhaltigkeit. Denn wir schauen nach vorne und setzen auf die Gewinner der Zukunft – nicht auf die Ge-winner der Vergangenheit." https://www.oekoworld.com/fileadmin/media_oekoworld/Bilder_f...

This source drills a little deeper:
"We might call this new world of commerce sustaining rather than sustainable, which suggests to us a more fulfilling agenda than the maintenance of a damaging system. Why choose a meager, limiting diet when we can create real sustenance with designs as safe, nutritious and productive as those nature gives us?" https://mcdonough.com/writings/design-triple-top-line/

Michael Martin, MA
United States
Local time: 17:46
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 32

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Steffen Walter: Or "sustenance rather than sustainability" as a noun-based option.
2 hrs
  -> Good point.

agree  Veronika Neuhold
2 days 4 hrs
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16 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
prophylactic ecology


Explanation:
prophylactic, in English, is mostly a medical term, but it contains the sense of anticipatory problem avoidance of Vorhaltigkeit

Wolfgang Hager
Italy
Local time: 22:46
Meets criteria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
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1 day 20 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
preparedness


Explanation:
I think this puts it in a nutshell

Daniel Arnold (X)
Australia
Local time: 22:46
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
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2 days 10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
stewardship


Explanation:
"stewardship rather than sustainability"

environmental stewardship ~ Umweltvorsorge

Example sentence(s):
  • The concluding section shows how environmental stewardship is ultimately a moral choice, requiring an important shift of heart and mind.
  • This section concludes with a discussion of how stewardship, rather than sustainability, is the appropriate goal for a religion-based environmental movement.

    https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/large-transnational-corporations-play-critical-role-global-natural-resource-management
    https://rsc.byu.edu/stewardship-creation/environmental-stewardship-economic-prosperity
Veronika Neuhold
Austria
Local time: 22:46
Meets criteria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 4
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Reference comments


1 day 10 hrs
Reference: Regenerative development

Reference information:
“Regenerative development is the use of resources to improve society's well being in a way that builds the capacity of the support systems needed for future growth. What sustainable development is to traditional economic development, regenerative development is to sustainable development.”

See also: regenerative design, culture, economy

Nachhaltig - remember that even though the word play in German implies a ‘before and after’ scenario, taking action in advance of or after (in reaction to) an event - and that connotation is no doubt why Vorhaltigkeit has been coined in this context - that is not what Nachhaltigkeit means.


    Reference: http://designsciencelab.com/resources/Regenerative-Developme...
    https://capitalinstitute.org/
oa_xxx (X)
Germany
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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