 Eco-Justice Collaborative
Living Responsibly for the Earth and All People
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Embracing a New Era of
Sustainability
E-COnnections September, 2008 - Vol 3, Issue 4
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Greetings!
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We hear a
lot about "sustainability" these days. The
concept is promoted in many forms, from "sustainable development" and "sustainable
living", to "sustainable architecture" and "sustainable tourism". Like an emerging style or trend, we warmly
greet the comfortable ambiguity of "sustainable living" and are encouraged to
"green" our world by introducing appropriate products and technologies into our lives.
But, what does that word
"sustainable" really mean? In a world of
an ever-growing population and finite resources, is a sustainable lifestyle
even possible?
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What IS Sustainability?
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The Case for Sustainable Living
Sustainable
living has been simply defined as living in a manner that utilizes resources in
a way that does not diminish their availability for future generations. This is a tough mandate for most of us in the
developed world, given our penchant for an increasing array of products and
services that bring us the "good life". Defined in this way, sustainable living is a
far cry from a business as usual lifestyle with the simple injection of green
products. In the past 50 years, the
world in general (and the U.S.
in particular) has accelerated its consumption of non-renewable resources at a
rate unprecedented in history. Since World War II,
the human race has consumed as many goods and services as all previous
generations combined! Today, a growing world demand for
resources; the peaking of oil production; the ticking time bomb of global
climate change; and the massive loss of species world-wide are signaling the end
of the era of limitless consumption. "© Maciej Oleksy | Dreamstime.com"
The Choice is Ours to Make!
We are now
entering a new era. What lies ahead is
up to us. The choices we make within the
next few years may determine whether our future will be characterized by the
decline of life on planet earth or the arrival of an age of sustainability. The heartening news is that we have the means
to make the right choices. We just need the
personal will to embrace life-giving alternatives and the where-with-all to
choose political leaders with the courage to reject business as usual and truly
support a sustainable future. It's time
to act!
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| Did You Know . . .
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- Each
day, the average American consumes 150 gals water, 3.3 lbs food and 15 lbs of
fossil fuel, while producing 120 gals of sewage, 3.4 lbs of garbage and 1.3 lbs
of pollutants (Earth Communications Office). It would take more than five planets to provide a lifestyle for all biotic citizens on this earth that
is equal to that which we enjoy!
- About 20% of the world's population lack access to safe drinking water,
and 50% have no access to a sanitation system. Disasters such as hurricanes and forest fires are increasing in frequency and
severity, and have killed 3 million people in the past three decades. Armed
conflicts and refugee flows are causing greater damage to the environment than
ever before (from: The State of Planet Earth).
- Our
world population has grown more since 1950 than it did in the previous four
million years and continues to increase rapidly. Alex Steffen, WorldChanging.com, estimates that we are adding one city the size of Seattle (over 586,000) every four to seven days. But unlike Seattle, most people are struggling in poverty. With these additional people come additional demands on our
earth:
- Annual fossil-fuel emissions of CO2 have increased twelve-fold since 1900 and quadrupled since the 1950s. Average global temperatures this century have risen to their highest point in
600 years, yet "binding'' targets to reduce emissions agreed to by
governments through the Kyoto protocol have not been met.
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Embracing a New Era of Sustainability
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We CAN turn things around and build a more sustainable world, sharing and celebrating God's abundance rather than exploiting Creation as though our earth and all who inhabit it are a "commodity" to be used and discarded. So . . . What do we need to do to get started?
- Redevelop our energy system. Our fossil fuel resources are depleting and their continued use is destroying our climate,
damaging our health, and degrading nature. Renewable energy sources can meet our energy needs: Every hour, the sun radiates more energy onto the earth than
the entire human population uses in one whole year and according to the U.S. Department of Energy, the world's winds could
theoretically supply more than 15 times current world energy demand.
- Preserve the world's
remaining species and ecosystems. We are part of Creation, and whatever we do to the web of life we do to ourselves. There is no more
precious inheritance to convey to future generations than the richness of
life itself.
- Revamp our industrial agricultural system. We need farming and food production systems that do not depend on depleting water supplies,fossil fuels, chemical
pesticides, or ever-increasing nitrogen fertilizers - all of which destroy nature and our bodies. How? Grow food locally!
- Build energy efficient buildings and products. How we make things, and how we think about how we make things,
must change radically. Visit Architecture 2030 and Energy Star websites to learn more.
- Invest in green chemistry.
We need to move away from hazardous chemicals that release poisonous
substances into nature, where they accumulate in living organisms. Green chemistry technologies create safer products, reduce use of energy and resources, and minimize waste.
- Conserve our resources and eliminate wastes.
Our current patterns of consumption are not sustainable. Reducing our
consumption of our land, water, forests and other natural resources is
one of the easiest things we can do. Also, waste causes great loss of
value and resources.
Humans are the only species that create waste. It's time to reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink, with the goal of bringing our waste to zero.
- Work for a stable, long-lasting peace.
Armed conflict over resources and ideologies need to cease. What
better way to begin to bring about peace and justice than by working
globally to end the growing gap between the rich and poor; end our
dependence on fossil fuels; reduce our material consumption; and ensure
that resources are distributed fairly and equitably, so that everyone's
needs are met.
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Take Action Today!
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 Sustainable
Living Roadshow
September 12 and13, 2008
University of Illinois, Chicago
The Sustainable Living Roadshow (SLR) is launching its 2008 Tour at the Democratic and Republican
National Conventions. Their next stop . . . Chicago! The tour will end with several days of
celebrations in Los Angeles leading up to the US
elections.
Attend this roadshow, put on by national and local educators and entertainers, and get the tools you need - while having fun - to make meaningful change! Learn about bioregional solutions for sustainability, including: local
power generation; community-based food production; natural building strategies;
conscious consumer choices; progressive public health policies; and alternative
transportation. Information about sustainable products and living strategies
that support a shift in individual and communal choices are key components in
this omni-partisan Roadshow!
Join Eco-Justice Collaborative on Friday and Saturday for a
60-minute workshop on sustainable living. Use Less -
Laugh More is our own fun, provocative, contribution
to the Sustainable Living Road Show. Or
. . . just stop by our booth for a visit!
Check our website
for more information and details as they develop.
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| ON POINT - Sustainability: Videos to Watch or Audio to Listen to!
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 Click here to watch Inspired Ideas for a Sustainable Future. Worldchanging.com founder Alex Steffen
argues that reducing humanity's ecological footprint is incredibly
vital now, as the western consumer lifestyle spreads to developing
countries. Worldchanging is an online
salon of activists and thinkers dedicated to the proposition that "another
world is here" -- that the tools and techniques we need to reverse the global
malaise
already exist and await only our imagination and willpower.
 Click here to watch renowned environmental author
and environmentalist Bill McKibben discuss his book
Deep
Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable
Future. McKibben questions
the feasibility of sustained economic growth, its impact on the earth and
whether the costs outweigh the benefits in terms of human happiness and
survival, and then makes a case for going local. Cities that make more of their own food, energy
and other goods are better off, and do less harm to the environment, says McKibben.
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Eco-Justice
Collaborative links our lifestyles to our unconstrained use of resources, pollution, global climate change and global poverty and resource wars. This information
is not intended to make us all feel guilty, but rather to raise consciousness
and provide incentives to find ways to live that are more sustainable, giving
back life to our precious earth and all who inhabit it.
Visit our
website for recommended actions for
change that both individually and collectively will reduce our impact - or
ecological footprint - on our world, and move our country toward just, sustainable
living for all.
Sincerely,
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Pam and Lan Richart
Eco-Justice Collaborative
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