What is Sustainability?

We’ll first start by making it understood that sustainability is very different from environmentalism, even though they have obvious similarities. Over time the differences will become more obvious to the point you’ll probably find environmentalism very limited. As it is about saving the environment with little regard of other surrounding issues and reality.

So what is Sustainability then?

Main stream sustainability is an action, design or decision that has considered three main components, which are:

Society. This is a single term used to describe everything from yourself, to the society you live in, including: the media, religion, politics, charities, the law and a whole range of other factors.

Economy. No you won’t be taking over 11 Downing Street, but the way you decide to store, invest and spend your money will have a big effect on the decisions the chancellor makes.

Environment. This includes all aspects from the living environment of your own home to the environmental problems that are afflicting the earth.

 

However we at Sustainable UK believe there is a greater ingredient left out of the current formulae…

The Individual. ‘Do what you can, when you can.’ Only you can take on the responsibility to make a difference. Ignore the skeptics, the extremists, the tabloid newspapers and become informed, weigh up the issues and make the decision you know is right.

Society, economy and environment can all be looked at independently, however they all affect each other and therefore they are interdependent.

From our own experience and also by talking to others we have found that people become interested in sustainability by being interested in one very small area and then discovering the impact it has on other areas, which widens their interest until they start to see a much larger picture. The same can be said about the reverse, in that it is ok to specialize in one area of sustainability even after you understand the big picture, as by then you’ll understand the implications it can have.

 

A Sustainable Solution

Consider the following simple example…

A journey that takes you 10minutes in the car will probably take you 15-20minutes by bicycle. The benefits can be broken down into the three main sections of sustainability:

Environment

• Reduced CO2 emissions from not using the car. Note: cars pollute more when warming up.
• Cleaner, less polluted atmosphere.

Society

• Improved fitness and health.
• Better sleep

Economy

• Reduced petrol costs.
• Reduced maintenance costs.

Why don’t you take another look at the benefits and think about what other benefits they might lead to…

 

Keeping the Process flowing

Nuclear fission involves a process called a chain reaction. One neutron is fired at an atom causing it to split. This splitting has three main products, which are heat, a number of neutrons and waste. The neutrons cause other atoms to split and therefore the reaction sustains itself.

This is the same for Sustainability in that one action releases a positive effect and a number of benefits. These benefits can go onto release more positive effects and therefore the reaction starts to sustain itself. Unfortunately no matter how hard you try you are never going to manage the perfect solution and therefore there will be some waste e.g. in the example above; energy, material, manufacturing processes and transportation were still needed to make the bicycle. However this was better than the alternative…

 

That’s all folks

I think that’s as far as we want to take it. Any more and we might start to spoil the fun of discovering it all for yourself.