Sustainable Tarpon Springs - How Does Sustainability Behave?

In having dinner with friends last night, I shared a presentation I developed when I was living in the Seattle area - Moving Towards Zero Waste.  Every time I share this presentation, I realize how ‘entrenched’ our unsustainable systems truly are.  We talked about the frustration of going into a grocery store for produce and encountering plastic wrap over styrofoam even in the ‘organic’ section.  The goal of eating organically grown food is completely sustainable, but how about buying it in packaging designed to out live the humans who consume it?  The accumulation of those carelessly made choices will eventually choke all life out of the planet - and thus, ourselves.

Just for grins, I looked up the definition of sustainable.  Maybe I should have done that in September when I first started this blog!  Sustainability:  ‘of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged.’  The second definition was; ‘of or relating to a lifestyle involving the use of sustainable methods.‘  Even though the word ‘sustainable’ was first used in 1727, it is more pertinent now than ever as we see the fall-out of many inventions and even institutions that lack durability when put to the test of time.  You can definitely say our whole economic system was called into question in 2008, when methods of making a quick Wall Street buck nearly caused the collapse of the worldwide financial system!

Thus, the word ‘sustainability’ can be accurately applied to many other concepts beyond how we grow food. It can be applied to economics, energy, methods of building, almost everything.  It implies thinking ahead to the survival of future generations for an indefinite period, knowing that our choices today can and will affect the survival of our species - and all other living things.  It astonishes me to realize there are people in corporate power who seem not to even have a slight concern for the welfare of their progeny, as long as they get what they want out of this life now.  Isn’t that a sociopathic tendency?  To be sustainable, think sustainably - we really have to broaden the scope of what sustainability means to us as individuals, community, and culture.

Part of that is learning to get along, in spite of differences of opinion.  To be able to express our opinions about an issue without going for the jugular of those who have a different view.  Attacking the ‘person’ rather than focusing on the ‘issue’ is actually a debate fallacy - argumentum ad hominem - to which in a formal discussion arena would be a ‘disqualifier’.  I have to question how an issue could provoke such vehement verbal abuse, unless there is some hidden agenda to which we are unaware.  It reminds me of the Oscar Wilde play,  An Ideal Husband, in which the main character is threatened with blackmail unless he supports a fraudulent, financial scheme.  Just sayin’...

Choosing to be civil in the face of controversial discussions is essential for us to live together peaceably.  Thus, I try to not react by personally attacking those with whom I disagree.  It is in itself definitive of character, so perhaps next time a hot topic, such as fluoridation, arises within our small community - we might collectively consider how to live with one another in an enduring, sustainable fashion.  We might remember if we care so much about children’s teeth and their overall health, we should also care about how we teach them with our behavior.