02/15/2024
Sustainable or just eco-fake?
Recently I was asked what makes us or something sustainable or “Eco?”.
In response I went on to list some of the things we practice on our site, that I felt distinguishes us.
Our aquaponics garden, that has been operating for several years
Rainwater catchment tanks, that we use for watering our gardens and trees.
A clothesline used to dry our laundry from the cottages. The passive solar house built with recycled tires, or the timber frame cottages built from local harvested lumber, orchards gardens etc...
As I reviewed our efforts, I felt reasonably confident of our differentiation. But still I wondered how I could better defend the question of sustainability? Maybe it was time to re-review what sustainability really is? To do this I started looking on the net for accepted definitions.
Sustainability:
“meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (United Nations Brundtland Commission)
Sustainability:
"relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged" "relating to a lifestyle involving the use of sustainable methods" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
Sustainable development: a moral precept as well as a scientific concept. It is closely linked to peace, human rights, and equity as much as to ecology or global warming. And if it obviously concerns the natural sciences, economics, and politics, it is also a cultural issue. Founded on the values particular to one society or another… (UNESCO)
Sustainable development: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)
An image available throughout the internet shows three interconnected circles with sustainability reached where all three circles overlap. What is unique about this image and definition is the inclusion of economic. To be sustainable a practice or policy needs to be economically feasible. Economics and money has always been the "dirty words" in sustainability. But if you go hungry or broke being green are you truly sustainable?
Do I have a conclusion, or answer to being sustainable, probably not. If large international organizations don't seem to agree on a definition how can we? But I do know that being sustainable can come in many forms from national to community to corporate to individual.
A single parent struggling to find healthy food is not going to approach sustainability the same as government or large corporation. I think that we can make a difference based on both individual and group efforts and decisions. That is probably my answer if asked again we are trying, we are improving each year, and we love what we do and feel good about most of our decisions and yes we are not perfect.
