I’ve been into sustainability for a long-time – and, for many reasons. My preoccupation became “legitimate” when I found the term, sustainable, in a textbook. On that day and for the first time, I saw my reflection in a practical and useful American word.
I’d been working my way through environmental economics. I wanted to make sense of American tactical economic pre-emptive by learning the logic of political economics. The textbook in question was filled with deliciously complex economic jargon laced with sane environmental objectives. I devoured it! But, after a few years, I realized that all that complexity didn’t quite get at the simple truth – the truth of rational environmental choice.
So, now over thirty years later, I am reclaiming the word, “sustainable,” from the technologists. Sustainability is a good word. We don’t have to leapfrog over to “regenerative.” Sustainable has that covered. I see sustainability as a throw back framework, that endures as classic – beyond time and into the future. It’s not trendy, a fad or a brand. Sustainability means a solid focus on the biosphere in every personal and public choice.
Living in principle has everything to do with sustainability. As my years make me gray, I’ve refined what I know. I’m advancing a policy solution while also trying to live as sustainably as I can muster, in every way real and authentic.
Gratitude is a wonderful sustainability habit. I find beauty in just being where I am, who I am and eating good real food. I have plenty, even though a few may think I have so little. My joyful emptiness is abundance!
What other sustainability habits can I share? I’m usually in good spirits, because I live my dream and keep at it. If something is not quite right, I breathe through my nose. I let it go. Try it! It works. I do use technology for outreach. It is amazing to write this just now directly to the web. All the same, the ends never justify the means. I want to be part of making technology more earth-friendly. And, the good work is not on the internet.
In any case, may these words find you in common cause. Let’s keep at it. Be who we are. Not give up. And, as you know, sustainability is everyday, in every way, and actually quite simple.
