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We are such voracious consumers — of food to natural resources — it’s a wonder we haven’t run out of everything already.

Well, it’s not too late to learn lessons from the past and begin to work, truly with intent, for a sustainable world. A home where we treasure what we have and replenish what we use.

And it turns out that sustainability can be good for business. According to the North Carolina Sustainability Center, sustainability offers the promise of long term profit for those businesses getting on-board.

The center says that going green and making green can go hand in hand.

NCSC has lined up more than 100 businesses that have committed to greener practices. This organization has a goal of establishing North Carolina as a leader in sustainability.

Check out the organization’s website and you’ll learn, “NCSC is changing the dialogue about sustainability by making the link between environmental and social well-being and economic opportunity for our state.”

The group was thinking about “sustainability” before most of us had even contemplated what that word means in today’s context of living on a planet we take good care of.

The organization had its beginnings way back in 1998 when it started out as a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation, then known as Save Our State, led by founding executive director Alan Briggs. Save Our State (which was not in any way connected to the current “Save Our State NC” organization) worked to find practical solutions to the problem of hog waste disposal in North Carolina. In 2002, while work continued on the hog waste issue, the organization expanded its mission and Save Our State became Sustainable North Carolina.

Over the next several years, Sustainable North Carolina worked to promote a more sustainable economy.

In 2011, the name of the organization changed again to the North Carolina Sustainability Center. A new board of directors was seated to create a business model for the center, one predicated on measuring and communicating the value of sustainability to North Carolina’s economy.

Since last year, the NCSC has worked to secure support from 125 North Carolina businesses, which have expressed support for sustainability efforts as “good for business and the state’s economy.” Signatories include large corporations like Duke Energy, SAS, and Ingersoll Rand, Harrington Bank, Eastern Carolina Organics, and Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants & Hotels.

The business leaders signed a statement that proclaims, in part: “Sustainable communities — ones that foster economic growth while also protecting social, cultural, and environmental well-being — are critically important to us and to our employees.”

It is encouraging to see corporations recognizing how vital it is to strive to preserve as they prosper.