Go back to: General discussion
I hope you got a sense of sustainability from the materials that is perhaps confusing you--slightly. Sustainability is slippery and becoming even more so as the concept takes hold more in the world and thus, cannot help but become more diffused in its exact meaning. That's ok. It can mean multiple things to multiple audiences.
That said, it cannot be all things to all audiences. It does have a few core elements (principles) that must be present, otherwise it is not sustainability but advertising or obfuscation or deceit or just plain wrong.
Among those initial materials I asked you to review, I STRONGLY suggest you look at Aldo Leopold, who does not use the word "sustainability" per se, but cements the notion of it--and does so more than a half-century ago. His concept of "harmony" between people and the land (biota, climate, ecosystems, grizzly bears, and yes, humans), I would argue, is the philosophical foundation for sustainability. He calls it a "land ethic," which is a powerful, powerful concept.
Other sustanability gurus, like William McDonough, for example, take this ethic and try to practice it in their design, development, business principles. Lester Brown, similarly, flogs the short-sightedness of global economic commerce that puts this foundation (land/water/climate) at risk. Paul Hawken finds the humanism within enivironmentalism to be a social movement that has no center, but is everywhere, small, communal, moral, and ultimately, unstoppable.
All of these amazing thinkers and doers give sustainability life!
Thus, we should not get too hung up on definitions, but should instead work with whatever concept of sustainability works best for you. Some of us are ecos, greenies, conservationists, environmentalists. Some are more designers, engineers, solution-makers. Others tend toward the social, poliltical, communal more. And still others--and we welcome them into the fold--are more about the business of sustainability. The Triple Bottom Line. If you can make this idea work on a balance sheet, then it works.
So Big Question: Which are you? And among the materials you looked at this week, what inspired, disturbed, angered, excited, enlighted you?
John
First Week's Readings, Listenings, Viewings
I hope you got a sense of sustainability from the materials that is perhaps confusing you--slightly. Sustainability is slippery and becoming even more so as the concept takes hold more in the world and thus, cannot help but become more diffused in its exact meaning. That's ok. It can mean multiple things to multiple audiences.
That said, it cannot be all things to all audiences. It does have a few core elements (principles) that must be present, otherwise it is not sustainability but advertising or obfuscation or deceit or just plain wrong.
Among those initial materials I asked you to review, I STRONGLY suggest you look at Aldo Leopold, who does not use the word "sustainability" per se, but cements the notion of it--and does so more than a half-century ago. His concept of "harmony" between people and the land (biota, climate, ecosystems, grizzly bears, and yes, humans), I would argue, is the philosophical foundation for sustainability. He calls it a "land ethic," which is a powerful, powerful concept.
Other sustanability gurus, like William McDonough, for example, take this ethic and try to practice it in their design, development, business principles. Lester Brown, similarly, flogs the short-sightedness of global economic commerce that puts this foundation (land/water/climate) at risk. Paul Hawken finds the humanism within enivironmentalism to be a social movement that has no center, but is everywhere, small, communal, moral, and ultimately, unstoppable.
All of these amazing thinkers and doers give sustainability life!
Thus, we should not get too hung up on definitions, but should instead work with whatever concept of sustainability works best for you. Some of us are ecos, greenies, conservationists, environmentalists. Some are more designers, engineers, solution-makers. Others tend toward the social, poliltical, communal more. And still others--and we welcome them into the fold--are more about the business of sustainability. The Triple Bottom Line. If you can make this idea work on a balance sheet, then it works.
So Big Question: Which are you? And among the materials you looked at this week, what inspired, disturbed, angered, excited, enlighted you?
John