Sustainability: This Word is Used so Much, It's Sustainability is Threatened

Sustainability! Now here’s a used and abused word that appears all the time these days. Everyone is covering themselves in it. For example, I noticed the other day that the Tar Sand folks are suggesting they use less water to make a litre of oil than it takes to make a cup of coffee. Ergo, I should conclude that if they are only using what I use every day, it can’t be that bad – unless I want to see myself as engaging in unsustainable behaviour.

But wait a minute. They want me to use their criteria for defining what sustainability is.

And this is the thing for me these days - sustainability arguments, rationales, conclusions, promotions, etc., are coming at me in all shapes and forms. Everyone is telling me their version of sustainable. It is not a dialogue. And this onslaught is having a numbing affect on me. I can’t process it all. I don’t have the time or the expertise to explore each claim.

What is becoming clearer for me is this. If I don't get my own set of sustainability ideas, I am going to continue to be pulled around by other people’s concepts of sustainability. Part of building sustainability involves looking within myself and asking, "How am I going to manifest sustainability in my life and contribute to communities working for greater sustainability?"

So I am busy these days trying to get my own sustainability consciousness up to snuff. And there are a number of fronts to consider. I struggle with keeping balance in my life so my health and emotional well being are sustained. (I will save these ever present ego and diversion challenges for another post.)

Then there are my daily decisions about consumption which impact not only me, but my community and the world. And it is here that I realize my inner experience serves me well in helping to guide my decisions. My first challenge is to avoid my inner critic which is all too ready to question and judge myself. It goes something like, am doing enough, am I too selfish, etc. And when I go down this path, I lose my momentum to do anything. I just get overwhelmed.

So instead, I connect with what is alive in me. My desire for my grandchildren to live a long and healthy life is high up on my list. My wish for more equitable distribution of our world’s resources is also up there right alongside my desire to live in harmony with the natural world and honouring other species' right to life. When I connect with these needs and values, the daily decisions around sustainable consumption become easier to make and the external shrapnel just falls away. I seem to know more about sustainability than I thought and if I continue to check inside myself and connect with compassionate needs for myself and others, these guides are like a good north star. They help to bring me home.