Personal Visions of a Sustainable World
Looking to the future, my personal vision of a sustainable world is reciprocal and intersectional. It begins with a shift from economic-based thinking to ecosystem-based thinking, furthering focus on education, land-based solutions and Indigenous-led conservation. A quote from professor and scientist Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer encompasses my thoughts on the matter, “the easiest way to have what you need is to not waste what you have.” Growth as a species is inevitable, however, to truly walk down the path of sustainability I believe we must shift from the mindset of greed (read, capitalism) to one of reciprocity between each other and our communities, and more so, ourselves to nature. When we leave species and habitats intact, the better they function. And the better they function, the better they serve.
In my optimal sustainable vision, we work to restore the land as well as our relationship with the land. I draw inspiration from the ‘nature needs half’ movement, an international coalition of scientists, conservationists, nonprofits, and public officials defending nature at the scale she needs to continue to function for the benefit of all life, and support human well-being. Without a land-based approach to the big three; environmental, economical, and social development, we are allowing all to fail. Our apathy towards depletion of the land, its ecosystems, and our place within them, ultimately will put our economic and social futures also at risk. The science is sound, climate change will lead to irreversible loss of the most fragile ecosystems, and crisis after crisis for the most vulnerable people and societies.
Clarity and transparency with sustainable goals and realities from government, leaders, and the media are paramount to success in this ideal world. Politically suitable means must be developed that bring the public interest in long-term environmental quality to bear on these decisions. Media also plays a role here, as people repeat what they hear. Where they get their information from influences their thoughts and decisions. Having worked in marketing for much of my career, I understand the power of language, how it influences judgements and can cast a fog over real truths. For example, recently the British Columbia government announced the protection of 353,000 hectares of old-growth from logging. A cause to celebrate until you dig a bit deeper and learn that the government’s prescribed old-growth areas are not necessarily viable for recovery from logging already executed, or contain species of old-growth deemed not viable for production anyways. Only 3% of BC’s designated old-growth forests support the large trees we envision when we think of old-growth forests. Clarity is important to ensure constituents have the knowledge they need to ensure their communities are striving for true sustainability.
The greatest barrier continues to be resistance to change by vested interests. The current economical-only based thinking continues the cycle of benefiting some excessively, while causing harm to others both in current times and more-so in the future. What we don’t need are governments beholden to individuals and enterprises entrenched in the past and blind to the world coming at them from tomorrow. I agree with the analysts that Malley and Lawrence speak of who believe that sustainable development is not possible without massive cultural change (a paradigm shift) and that such change would be a form of feminization in that it would emphasize connectedness, relationships, cyclicity, and non-linearity.
