Is 'Sustainability' Sustainable?
It’s having a bit of a moment, isn’t it? The word sustainability seems to be the ‘it’ word of the day. In some regards, I have no issue with this. It can be immensely helpful to attach a simple, strong label to a deep, complicated idea. That’s the essence of branding. Clearly, we’re at a time in the great sweep of evolution where powerful words are needed. Words we can rally around as we attempt to deal with this colossal climate conundrum—this monumental manmade f&*k up.
But is sustainability our best bet? I’m not convinced. On the surface, it seems logical that we’d want to encourage and inspire actions that maintain or defend a certain level. If we can sustain the current character and quality of our environment that would be good, right? Yes, of course it would. The problem with humans, clever monkeys that we are, is that we’re programmed to push boundaries. We’re hardwired to challenge the status quo. We’re basically incapable of leaving well enough alone.
And so, the current condition is a moving target. The health of our natural environment today is, by almost every measure, crappier than it was yesterday. If we set for ourselves the meager goal of sustaining what we have today then we’re forever allowing ourselves to accept a slipping standard. It’s like standing on the deck of a boat that’s slowly taking on water. Sure we’re sustaining our position, but the boat is sinking.
It’s no surprise that government and big business have co-opted the sustainability label. It sounds progressive, even though it’s not actually holding us all to the higher goal of improving anything. A commitment to sustainability is absolutely better than doing nothing, but in reality it’s kind of a lazy commitment.
Okay then, what might be a better word, a more aspirational label? A friend recently suggested think we think of our actions as being either regenerative or degenerative. I thought that was a pretty clever concept. If we behave responsibly and do right by the environment, then we can help to regenerate things and improve on the status quo. Or, if we’re naughty and careless, then we contribute to further decline and degeneration of the environment. Instead of merely sustaining our position on the deck of the slowly sinking boat, we can choose to start bailing water—or poke more holes in the hull.
Regardless of whether a term like regenerative is better than the word sustainability is ultimately beside the point. What’s more important is that we stop trying to stuff so much meaning into a single, hackneyed label. Language matters and when we default to easy labels it’s a sign that we’re not trying hard enough, we’re not being creative enough, and we’re not truly recognizing the nature of the problem. Or, in this case, the problem of our nature.
