My Humble Definition of Sustainability

As I mentioned before, I am an environmental engineer by profession, and because of what I learned via my profession and academic training, I want to see this world strive for Sustainability.

I want to see every single individual understand what is at stake (our litteral lives) and internalize the importance of change in that optic.

Starting with me.
___________________________________________________________________________________

I still feel like, even if the word Sustainability has lost its appeal, maybe because we’ve heard it a hundred times now, in a hundred of unrelated contexts (or ads) where it was only plugged for its “trendiness”.

It’s meaning however has been lost in translations…

This post is my humble attempt to simplify it…

Sustainability:

When we talk about sustainability, we should always talk about a concept  that rallies these three spheres of our daily lives into one simple plan that allows our next generations be able to enjoy the same privileges in terms of social, financial and environmental options. These three spheres are ones where you have to put efforts in (inputs) to get reasonable or good results (outputs). These three spheres are distinct but interdependent and, most importantly, essential to our lives (individually and as a society).

Here they are

The Social Sphere.

In this sphere, we interact with people, our relatives, friends, colleagues, strangers and that Starbucks barista you see every Monday morning. Whether we choose to do it face-to-face, on the phone, or via the hundreds of ways to interact behind a screen, this sphere exist for us to  meet, connect, befriend, share ideas or influence other people.
More than anything though, it is the sphere where each one of us looks for a sense of belonging.

The Economy Sphere.

This sphere is often a continual love-hate relationship for most of us. But, whether we like it or not, the economy is a system that we need to cultivate, since our currency is what allows us to exchange goods and services, within a society. To a certain extent, money (in all its forms, including what it can or cannot buy) is a critical element in our innovative potential, as individuals or a society as a whole… it’s what incentivizes many initiatives (positive innovations, like harmful wars). Not saying that money doesn’t have disadvantages, cause believe me, if I went on that road, you would still be reading this article in 2019… but it did contribute to simplify exchanges worldwide, and does represent an important sphere of our daily lives.

The Environment Sphere.

To put it simply, we need trees for oxygen, we need water to keep hydrated and we need crops to eat. We need our direct environment to survive. But on top of that, our large scale environment (our earth) and its state has a great impact on our longevity, our health and the health of our future generations..

This is what has been the focus of modern environmentalists in their media coverage…

*********
Sustainability aims for any entity whether we’re talking of an individual, a society, an institution, or a corporation, to take action steps to achieve this simple and altruistic goal.