What is sustainability?
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What is sustainability?


The answer may seem obvious; to live within earth’s ecological boundaries, or something similar.

For you, that might mean following the principles of doughnut economics or the circular economy. Perhaps, like me you think society, the Global North at least, needs to undergo a period of degrowth to reach a post-growth world.

There are many ways to describe sustainability. There are many perspectives regarding it.

But generally speaking, most people would agree that we need to live within what our planet can provide in the way of resources and the pollution it can absorb in its sinks, so that future generations can prosper in balance with nature.

Increasingly, many people are realizing we can’t carry on with “business as usual.”


But there is a problem.

According to the “Circularity Gap Report 2024” from the Circle Economy Foundation, “the vast majority of extracted materials entering the economy are virgin, with the share of secondary materials declining steadily since the Circularity Gap Report began measuring it: from 9.1% in 2018 to 7.2% just five years later in 2023.”

More and more people express a desire to live sustainably. More businesses than ever have a sustainability department or sustainability manager. There are more policies than ever to encourage us and society to be sustainable.

But we are still heading in the wrong direction.

Our society has a paradox. It wants to be more sustainable but consumes ever more virgin resources. And in its quest to extract them, the impact is destroying ever more of the environment which is having a negative effect on biodiversity.


So why do we continue to head in the wrong direction?

There are many reasons. This is a very complex issue. But for this article I would like to focus on just one: mindset.

We, as individuals and as a society, are changing all the time. Paradoxically (there’s that word again) however, making a deliberate change, as an individual or society, is very difficult to achieve.

Just think about your own personal life. How hard has it been to stop a bad habit like smoking or spending too much time on social media, or to adopt a good one like eating healthy food and doing regular exercise.

Did you fail?

If you succeeded, why did you succeed?

I bet you had a clear purpose. Taking the above examples, perhaps the reason was you knew there was a chance for you to achieve a greater sense of wellbeing or achievement in your life, and changing your lifestyle was the way to achieve it. Whatever the reason, you had a clear sense of why you had to do it.

It was about you and what you believed, and why you believed it.

As Simon Sinek says, “start with why.”

This I believe is part of the reason why people find it hard to live sustainably. They focus on what the problem is – they consume too much, and not why they have a problem – their consumer mindset.

The problem is not what we do, but why we do it.


I can remember as a child visiting my great-grandmother, who was born in Victorian England, lived through two world wars and the economic stagnation of the Interwar years, at her cottage in Somerset. She lived a simple life. She must have had half the stuff that I have, and I, according to the Earth Hero app, have a footprint 47% less than the typical Westerner (that's still too much by the way).

Each generation since her time has demanded more stuff, or resources if you prefer, to satisfy their lifestyles.

And why wouldn’t they.

As Tony Judt noted in his book “Postwar” “for the first time in history, ease and comfort were now within the reach of most people in Europe.” And increasingly in other parts of the world today.

People rightly want ease and comfort. They have been trained to believe that having more goods and services will provide it. They have since childhood been trained in consumerism.

And that has to a point been proven to be true. Consumerism has provided them with ease and comfort.

This is, unfortunately, the default mindset of people today.


But now, for the wellbeing of society and nature, and future generations we must change that mindset to one of sustainability. That may indeed mean living with fewer goods in our lives and making them last longer.

For some people, that means austerity, but life doesn’t have to be austere. Once a certain level of ease and comfort has been reached, more actually brings very little benefit to people's lives. And constantly wanting more, constantly working so you can buy more, can become detrimental to the individual, as well as society, and the environment.

So, counterintuitively less can mean a better wellbeing.

Living with less can mean a simpler lifestyle. One with less work and more free time. Less stress and a better quality of life.

Living a simpler lifestyle doesn’t happen overnight. And as with consumerism, it is communal, but also individualistic. Each person must decide why they want to live a sustainable lifestyle.

For me, it can be summed up in Glenn Thomas’s, an employee (maybe former now) of Interface, poem “Tomorrow’s Child.”


Tomorrow’s?Child

Without a name; an unseen face and knowing not your time nor place, Tomorrow’s?Child, though yet unborn I met you first last Tuesday morn.

A wise friend introduced us two, and through his shining point of view I saw a day that you would see; a day for you, but not for me.

Knowing you has changed my thinking for I never had an inkling, That perhaps the things I do might someday, somehow, threaten you.

Tomorrow’s?Child, my daughter/son I’m afraid I’ve just begun To think of you and of your good, though always having known I should.

Begin I will to weigh the cost of what I squander; what is lost If ever I forget that you will someday come to live here too.

? Glenn C. Thomas 1996


J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote that “it’s not a bad thing to celebrate a simple life.” He’s right of course. But to a society that has only known a consumer one, it can often seem beyond reach.

I truly believe that if we can teach people to celebrate a simpler life, then maybe, just maybe, we’ll see those circularity figures start to increase.

Any change will take time, sometimes years, sometimes a generation. ?

But first, we must change people’s mindset because I believe first and foremost, that sustainability is a philosophy. One which you live by.

Change that and the rest will follow.

Alex Papworth

Supporting business analysts to thrive in unpredictable times through trusting their intuition; instilling self confidence, emotional stability and resilience

8 个月

Thanks Alan. I agree that a change of mindset is what is required. Seeing as we're all unique that change is also likely to be unique. For me I was drawn to a journey asking the question - 'what were we thinking that allowed us to get to this point?'. This lead me to writing of Charles Eisenstein and The more beautiful world we know is impossible. My eyes were opened to the idea that we have become disconnected from nature. This is a belief not a reality as anyone who steps out into the rain or breathes the oxygen expired by the plant kingdom knows. Being and doing with the knowledge that I am part of nature or even I am nature is my mindset change ????

Holli Bradish-Lane

DNA Coach | Top Voice | Decode Your Optimal Blueprint | Ignite Whole-BEING | Achieve Weightless Freedom | Empower Vitality ?? Revolutionize Your Health Journey with Genetic Precision ??

8 个月

Living with less does create a simpler lifestyle. But for me does not equate to less work and more free time. Now I do the things I love. Less stress and a better quality of life—YES! Alan Long you eloquently shared a true gem with your newsletter this weekend. Many thanks ??

David Crookall

Climate change, Ocean, Sustainability, Participatory simulation, Experiential learning, Debriefing, Climate literacy, Editing, Publication; PhD, FRSA

8 个月

Nice piece, Alan, Alan Long, very nice. I wonder if you might be interested in writing an academic article, either for this journal https://sustainableearthreviews.biomedcentral.com/ - an overview of your thoughts, with support from the literature, or for this special issue https://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/ls. I hope so, best wishes, david -- of you wish to chat, we can hop on to google meet.

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