Sustainability holds at its center the environment. At least that’s what I always understood. 

Actually, it’s more nuanced than that. It’s a whole-system view of life on this earth and the intersection of social equity, economic vitality and the environment. Consider the diagram of three intersecting circles at right. It is in the place of the overlap that we find sustainability.

Sustainability is a term that is fraught with confusion and contention. 

Often when we talk about sustainability, we quickly focus on arguments about whether being sustainable will prohibit economic growth. 

From there, we get lost in the weeds about whether solutions to the increasing amount of greenhouse gases actually harm the environment more. (Think of the arguments about whether the extraction of natural resources for batteries for electric cars is more harmful than the extraction of fossil fuels.) 

However, arguments are beside the point. Arguments serve as a vehicle that keeps us moving on the same path of overconsumption and outcomes that nobody actually wants. 

A growing awareness

With our collective undeniable experience that the intensity of storms and natural cycles is increasing, we seem to agree that our climate is changing. In this moment, I personify the earth as having a fever in order to combat the virus that is attacking it. (Think smokestack emissions, greenhouse gases, fine particulate, habitat destruction. All things that disrupt the earth’s health and our own, as well as the creatures around us. More about that inside.)

And that’s where sustainability comes in: figuring out how to live on the earth in a net-zero kind of way. We don’t overtax it; it doesn’t overtax us in terms of our convenience. 

Of course, we can all take small steps toward reducing our own impact. Things like reusing a plastic bag, using our kitchen towels to dry our hands rather than immediately reaching for a paper towel, washing vegetables in a pot of water rather than under running water and using the water to water plants, either inside or out. Catching the cold water coming out of the faucet as we wait for it to become hot and using it for something.

But let’s be frank. Taking those steps will not solve the problem, which is global disruption of the earth’s systems.

However, when we take those steps, our awareness of our connection to the earth’s system is made manifest. We become aware of the precious nature of our natural resources and our influence and agency on them.

This thinking, this moving beyond argument to an awareness of our connection to the earth and each other, creates a different world. 

This leads to more sustainable solutions that are clever and exciting. Have you noticed how some packaging is changing? I unfolded and folded a shoe box, fashioned from a flat piece of cardboard, diecut with tabs that fit in slots and marveled. The sturdy box required no tape. No plastic tape with glue was needed to hold the box together. It was amazing. 

And from this place, of ingenuity and wonder, we experience our own understanding of our connection to the earth and each other. That is where sustainability lies. 

It is a frame of mind.

Make no mistake. It is from this frame of mind and renewed awareness that we work for systemic change, policy changes and corporate accountability. See ghgprotocol.org for more.

(And yes, we can argue how regulations, particularly bad regulations, can interfere with business profitability. Remember, arguing is not the point.)

There is so much in our world that is outside of our personal sphere of control. But in the world of sustainability—the intersection of social equity, economic vitality and the environment—there are numerous choices that we have absolute control over. 

First and foremost is our frame of mind.