From hydro flasks to metal straws, much of the population has yielded to global trends that are meant to be part of reducing our carbon footprint and being environmentally conscious. Yet, many of us are still in the dark about what it really means to practice living sustainably.
The term sustainability originated in 1713, from the German phrase Nachhaltigkeit, roughly translating to "sustained yield" as it meant never harvesting more than the forest could regenerate. Though its translation began appearing in the 19th century, the term Sustainable Living was popularized in the 1950s, which has been perceived as the beginning of the modern-day sustainable movement.
Nevertheless, the concept of sustainable living has existed ever since humanity developed the concern for the future of our very limited resources. Past cultures and civilizations had previously considered the disappearance of the animals and plants their livelihoods depended on and ecology soon became a recognized discipline where the concept of sustainability referred to all biological environments and systems. By the 20th century, there was an ever-growing awareness about overusing resources as well as mankind's dependence on fossil fuels, and it was then sustainability began to be associated with how we live on this planet.
On a fundamental scale, sustainable living describes the application of sustainability to the lifestyle choices and decisions of consumers. According to the United Nations Environmental Program, a sustainable lifestyle minimizes ecological impacts while enabling a flourishing life for those who practice it. Often referred to as Green Living, it means prioritizing the use of natural and renewable resources by adopting lifestyle choices that avoid excess waste, consumption, and resource depletion. In short, sustainable living aims to reach an environmental equilibrium where whatever is taken from the planet, is returned back to it. It is about making healthier choices for the planet as well as for those who reside in it, by altering the means of transportation, energy, infrastructure, and food to reduce the global ecological footprint.
Sustainable living enables meeting basic human needs and living well while simultaneously embracing the idea of sufficiency in a time where consumerism has become a way of life for many. Trends concerning mass consumption have advanced consistent economic growth at the cost of a significant portion of the planet's natural resources. Though people do not live their lives with the intention to harm the planet or the environment, they also are not particularly active in helping it. As those who benefit from these unsustainable ecological practices strive to limit the population's ability to imagine alternative aspirations and consequently, many are locked in unsustainable lifestyles that threaten humanity's symbiotic relationship with the planet's natural ecology.
Our future now depends on our behaviour and actions as global consumers; how we run our homes, what food we eat, how we move around, what we buy and how we care for the planet. It is possible to apply the principles of sustainable living into these daily practices by curbing habits of expending money and energy to protect and improve the Earth's environment. The attempt to adopt these customs do not necessarily need to start on a large scale; in fact, it often needs small actions in multitudes to generate global sustainability. It may start with something as basic as exchanging ideas and getting others to consider the impacts of their consumerism, to something more decisive such as using high finance actions to shift social, political, economic, and cultural habits and practices. Though it seems that many struggle with understanding how to start living sustainably, a lot of us have integrated sustainable customs into our lives. What we need to focus on is to keep up habits while investing in actions that trigger bigger and bolder changes for how we practice sustainable living.
Commentaires