My last post addressed, or attempted to address, my personal definition of what it means to act sustainable. However, what is the goal, or the ultimate aim of sustainability? I believe only in knowing that can one truly bend the bow, release that arrow of ardent action and hit the true target. This post will therefore focus on the overriding question of “what is the goal of sustainability?” One thing is for sure, sustainability is not maintenance. It seems we are much more focused on “sustaining” inanimate objects that we are on living things. I would rather call actions geared towards sustaining the inanimate (the “Stuff” that was referred to in my “backpack” post) maintenance. Being a sustainability guy is not the same thing as being a “maintenance man.” If you are a spiritual person with a belief in a higher power who is the author of all things living, you probably also hold a belief that things were created to be beautiful…to be healthy. Often human interaction and impact tends to diminish the healthy state that the creator had in mind. Why doesn’t he (or she or it) just intervene? Let’s leave that for a different post. Sustainability then becomes an attempt at managing our interactions and impacts in a way that promotes the health of living things…a healthy environment, a healthy body, healthy relationships…get the picture? Of course, if you are not at all spiritual and would rather hold fast to a “survival of the fittest” kind of philosophy of life, then you probably don’t feel much of a need to act sustainable. Because sustainability recognizes that the created world is connected and every part must play a role in sustaining it. You cannot just sit back and expect that living things will sustain themselves and if they fall short, well it was just meant to be. That all that really matters is my own personal level of comfort and the fact that people are starving, animals are becoming extinct, rain forests are disappearing, and the planet is overheating (yes, even despite the current cold snap in the Northeast) just doesn’t enter into my personal picture. But the hard fact to realize is that oh yes it will, eventually! If that’s the way you see things, then fine…I am not here to judge, but just to make a point. And the point is that sustainability is about being concerned that our interactions and impacts promote the health of living things. And in so doing our spiritual health is also dramatically improved.
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