So what the heck is sustainability anyway? It’s been thrown around a lot lately. Sustainable business, agriculture, finance, design, living, and energy are all part of one giant concept called sustainability. For most marketers, I think they generally think sustainability is just another way of saying more efficient.
Ultimately, the problem with most products isn’t that they aren’t efficient enough. It’s that they exist on a linear system of extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal that kind of looks like this:
TYPICAL LINEAR SYSTEM OF PRODUCTION
(click on it to see all the fun stuff thats too small to see in this big thumbnail)
mmmm crapwich!
In this model, we take things out of the earth, sell them, consume them, and then dump them somewhere where it sits, in many cases, for millions of years. The problem is that the earth is finite and if you don’t put things back into the earth, you’ve got a finite existence. A really great site to visit to get the full picture of exactly where our stuff comes from is www.storyofstuff.com.
So what’s the alternative to a linear-we-all-gonna-die-if-we-don’t-change-system? It’s a cyclical system that doesn’t end at the dump, but starts all over again. I suppose some of you are saying to yourself “Okay what magic universe does stuff you consume go back into the ground and help create more stuff? I mean, there aint no iPod tree!” Although it may be true that there is no iPod tree we still have a lot to learn from nature (the greatest cyclical system ever) and apply its lessons to how we do business, build homes, create energy, and have fun.
I sure as hell don’t have all the answers on how to do all this but I see this as mankind’s greatest challenge and is why I built this site. This is a place for people to share thoughts, voice opinions, and help change the world one post at a time. So, please help. Send me your ideas, comment below, and maybe just maybe we’ll live to see the iPod tree.
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July 17th, 2008 at 9:25 am
I’m excited for the journey and to learn all about how to make my life sustainable. I mean, I don’t even recycle right now…
July 17th, 2008 at 9:38 am
come along with me slanch. I will show you the way!