This blog is not intended to speak to the growing number of people who already have an idea of what sustainability means. Not yet at least; it's more for the folks, like I know, that may have never had a thorough understanding of what the word means or why we should even be interested in it.
So what is sustainability. I don't want to give some link under the word to a definition, because I want to explain what it means to me, personally. Sustainability to me is: over what period of time can this activity be supported. It is more than just a catchword for the people concerned about the environment, it is how long "anything" can be supported over time...
Whether it is something we would consider helpful, hurtful, or even ethical. It goes a little deeper than would be obvious on the surface, perhaps. Have you ever asked yourself, "How long can I keep this up?". You were questioning the sustainability of your activity. Whether it was the impact of the physical effort you were currently exerting, on yourself, on your family, or your living space (environment).
Un-sustainability is, maybe, what we should concern ourselves with. What actions, that we can influence, are sustainable over time. We all do things that are unsustainable, some things are more or less harmful than others. The choice we have is whether or not to educate ourselves, so we can make informed decisions about our impact, and how it may or may not affect ourselves and those around us. Of course we can make the choice not to educate ourselves as well.
I grew up in a unique environment where in I had opportunity to live with several families all doing things differently. Being as I was young, I had no idea what an advantage this was, (and usually "advantage" was the last thing I would have considered it to be) at the time. I grew older though and started to understand that people who come from a "normal" family unit had less opportunity to see variation in daily activities. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I am certainly not speaking against the strong family unit idea here, it was just different for me.
One of the first things I noticed from my seemingly unique vantage point, (in retrospect of course) was that with so many ways to do things, there are always options. Some of these options require more or less in the way of effort. It requires more "work" to do things some ways, and less to do them other ways. We would, as it seems, pick the easier way nine times out of ten.
What do we sacrifice for the sake of ease though? I remember pulling taffy in the kitchen for hours on end when I was young, and now I can buy a piece for a few cents, but it just isn't as good somehow. I don't know that the taste is any better or worse, but it is lacking the effort, and anticipation, that I had invested in the old stuff. Now I know we don't all have memories of pulling taffy, but we must have some memory of how the effort we invested in something was part of the reward.
They say "life is a journey not a destination", and "its more important how you get there than where you go". In our effort to create the most comfortable lives we can for ourselves, we lose little things along the way, things that are so seemingly insignificant, we don't even notice, until one day we wonder why we don't want to do anything anymore. The value of everything is reduced by our lack of personal investment. If we can get it for a dime then why "waste" our time.
I used to drive a car everywhere I went, and I never noticed anything but the bumper on the car in front of me that was holding me back, or the stop sign, or the cop that may be hiding around the next corner to give me a ticket. Now I ride a bicycle and there are no more police officers lurking in the dark looking for me. There are no more bumpers holding me back, and I have yet to see a stop sign on the sidewalk. I can choose to ride in the road or on the curb. There are far fewer restrictions for me now.
Sure I don't want to go as far as I would in a car, but in this day and age, how far do I need to go. I live within five miles of 3 different grocers. There are produce stands, libraries, parks, and even open air markets within my ever growing range. In the off chance I have need to go farther than I would like to ride, I can always take a city buses, that are using earth friendly fuels more and more. On my bike I can smell the smells, see the people, hear the voices, be a part of the landscape. In a car all I get is a framed "picture" of the outside world.
I was with a friend a while back and we pulled up to a drive through restaurant, of the "fast food" variety. We were approached by one of the employees, before we got to the window, for the purpose of obtaining our food request, to serve us in a more friendly, expedient way. So there we were in a car looking out the picture frame of the window, with a real person, (a little too real) asking us what we wanted. My friend in the driver's seat recoiled. She leaned back over the center console of the car to get a little more distance between herself and the employee, who was responsible for shattering the illusion of the window just being a picture.
I don't think that is the response desired by the person who told the employee to go outside and take orders in the drive through. They probably thought such expedient and personal service would be appreciated by their customers, when in reality we are so programed to view the outside world through a frame, we find it uncomfortable to do business until we reach the store's version of the frame (the drive through window). It's like this is one of the only allowable access points where you're allowed to reach out into the picture.
There is no doubt riding a bicycle is a more sustainable practice than driving a car. It has the added bonus of keeping me aware of the fact that I am part of the scenery and there is no picture frame. The chances I will kill someone else because of a collision are pretty low. I don't have the recurring costs of buying fuel, (I have to eat anyway), paying car insurance, or getting the oil changed. If my bike gets messed up I can usually fix it, or find another one, cheap or free. I get plenty of exercise so I don't need a gym membership. I don't need a driver's license and I have never gotten a ticket on my bike. Best of all though, I think, it requires me to think in a creative way to get things done.
The point to all this is, I assign much more value to my activities on a bicycle than in a car. I like doing things in a more sustainable way because it brings more value to my life. I appreciate things more, take less for granted, and I am happier and healthier for my efforts.
This is just one example of how and why we should think more sustainably, and it may not be right for you, it's just something I can do. Every time I get perplexed about something not going exactly how I would prefer on my bike, all I have to do is look in a passing car or two and see the faces of the drivers to remind me of just what I'm missing (Try it sometime, they don't usually look too happy).
I want to think more sustainably because with sustainability comes more freedom. The more capable you are of supporting your own needs the less needy you are, generating your own power frees you from the power company and that monthly bill, reducing your consumption reduces your dependence on the amount of power you need to produce. Growing some, if not all, your own food reduces several things like, the fuel used to transport it, the amount of herbicides and pesticides you eat and feed your family, and lets you control the nutritional value of the food by growing it in the best possible conditions.
Being sustainable isn't about being an uber-environmentalist. It makes sense for purely selfish reasons, even if you couldn't care less about the rest of the world.
It will still help it though. :-}
