Green Options

In my previous post, I brought up the sustainability prism and the link between personal happiness or peace and the other three, traditional components of sustainability theory — economy, equity, and ecology. In this article, I explore the link between personal happiness and the economy in greater depth. Of course, this is just a taste of the full connection between the two since there are enough layers here to write a book on it all, but here is a start and there is plenty of comment space below!

Economy is at the forefront of society’s consciousness these days. It is always a, if not the, major societal issue for most people. With the current economic crisis, it has stepped up even another level of importance. We all have to wonder, these days, if we will be able to return to the affluence of just one or two decades ago, or, if, on the other hand, the whole economic system of America, and the world that depends on it, will collapse as a house of sand built on a thin board of wood on the ocean’s waves.

We can look to the specific failures of banks and immoral business practices to explain all of this. But these failures, and much more, were built on much more widespread and much less questioned norms than these.

What is sustainability? It is, in one sense, leaving the world in the same condition as it was when we arrived in it. This is a fairly common definition of the word: “the property of [being continued with minimal long-term effect on the environment]” (Dictionary.com); “forms of progress that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development).

Nonetheless, something is missing here. This is the practical component of sustainability. As we all know, practicing sustainability is the difficult part. The definitions above are all the end result of sustainability. They are the goal. But the practice of sustainability is part of the word as well, not only the result.

If we delve into sustainability theory, we immediately find the sustainability triangle — economy, environment, and equity. It is the appropriate balance of these that many people say is the “practice” of sustainabilty.