LONDON — When it comes to the topic of sustainability, there are still those in the meat and poultry industry who roll there eyes at the very mention of the word. However, sustainability is here to stay, proponents claim.

A free booklet published July 30 by the United Kingdom’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affair’s provides a statistical overview of the country’s progress in tackling key economic, social and environmental issues by bringing together an extensive range of indicators that literally fit in one’s pocket. The indicators cover a wide range of topics of everyday concern, including health, housing, jobs, crime, education and the environment -- all which may affect whether people can live more sustainably in the future.

The indicators and booklet are also published on the U.K. Government sustainable development

The booklet’s goal is to make indicators easily accessible to a wide audience and to enable everyone to judge where change, for better or worse, is occurring and where the challenges are. Approximately 60,000 copies of the booklet are distributed annually and they are particularly popular with schools and colleges, according to a news release.

"The 68 indicators comprise 126 measures and in using these it is possible to get an overview of change compared with earlier years, based on the number of measures showing improvement, little change or deterioration," according to the publisher.