Saturday 9 May 2015

Sustainability Is So 'Noughties'

A short post, but intense in meaning and purpose.

I just read this article from The Automatic Earth today, about sustainability and resilience.  Thanks go to Ilargi once again for being a great source of good solid news and views.

Here is my take on this:

It's true.  Sustainability is so 'noughties'.  That realisation comes when you see that basically nothing is sustainable, never was, never will be. Sustainability has changed nothing. In fact it has only made things worse.

So, what's left? Resilience (no not the resilience that Resilience.org talks mainly about, they are still into looking for sustainability, or the manipulation of the future, mostly).

Real resilience is about:
  •  the learning to cope in less than perfect circumstances
  •  the strengthening of the will 
  •  the self-preparation to face the unknown
  •  the gathering of knowledge
  •  the practicing of meaningful effort
  •  the passing on of those things to others
  •  the getting ready to wade through the shit and slime and to reach the far side intact
  •  the will to carry on when everyone else has fallen
  •  the grounded-ness and fortitude to rebuild
Resilience is not about whinging, bemoaning, or ignoring, the state of things (but it is about the seeing and the declaration of where those things are heading, so that others may see). 

Resilience is not about trying to head off or divert the future into something that we would like to see, but about preparing to meet the future as it comes, knowing that you have the means, courage, knowledge, and experience to deal with whatever that future may bring.

...and that is exactly what is behind just about everything that I attempt to do, and will continue to do while I have the strength, every day that passes.

2 comments:

  1. Good post. I gave up on sustainability long ago. I particularly like the quote from Denis Meadows: " we are going to evolve through crisis, not through proactive change."

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    1. Yes Bev, that was the main thing that struck me when I read it. I fully intended to put that quote in my post but somehow missed it out. So glad that you thought to mention it. The perils of writing stuff after midnight.

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