A"sand-castle virtue"

I have been involved in one or more aspects of sustainability since the early 90's. In reflection I've had to reach some rather rude conclusions. We’ve been pretentious but not serious. Judgmental about others but unwilling to test ourselves. The current pandemic is evidence that we should, perhaps, take the need to master complexity more seriously.  

As I shelter in place, a Doomed Boomer looking for work, I have time to observe that when humans retreat, nature is quick to regain her lost territory. There are swans and dolphins in the Venice canals! Thomas Merton recognized the necessity of unintended consequences – for every intended consequence there are multiple positive, negative and neutral outcomes and the consequence horizon must be constantly scanned so that positive interventions can made early. Having dedicated my life to trying to create more sustainable outcomes, I have ample evidence that humans are not very good at forward planning. Accepting responsibility rather than assigning blame is also a shortcoming. Will the residents of Venice decide that they prefer swans and dolphins to floating megalithic hotels? Will we gain new perspective on what we can, and cannot, live without? 

Sustainability is about the core of being. It is fundamentally the framework that will allow us to amplify our hopes and reduce our fear of change and of each other. Sustainability leverages science and technology to solve problems we all care about - but may express in different ways, clouding our understanding that we all, in fact, more or less agree.

In the words of Ian Anderson 

“...And the sand-castle virtues are all swept away

In the tidal destruction the moral melee.

The elastic retreat rings the close of play

as the last wave uncovers the newfangled way.”  

 With the current pandemic that challenges norms about how we ought to live and the attention we should give to science, more than ever we have the opportunity to discover our newfangled way. I hope we are finally ready to have conversations about sustainability that will actually make a difference.