The Paradox of Sustainability

In order for the term “sustainability” not to become a mere slogan, we need to understand better what it is all about. The word clarifies at the same time that it confuses many. To the layperson, to sustain is to keep, to maintain and to continue. So, sustainability is closely associated with continuity. What confuses is that the word has now acquired a new depth of meaning. Sustainability is now closely tied up to the environment, yours, others and mine. In other words, we cannot sustain if we continue our use or rather misuse of our environment. A paradox? Not quite.

It may strike us as paradoxical. If we use the ego as starting point, then it indeed is a paradox. How can I sustain my current lifestyle if I can’t continue what I’m doing. On the other hand, if we use the “other” as the vantage point, then it’s not. Others cannot sustain their current lifestyle if I continue with mine. Future generations of humans are endangered if I continue the way I live my life today. Other species will become extinct if I continue the way I ignore the fact that the planet is not just for me.

Central to appreciating the evolving truth about sustainability and not simply engaging in “sustainababble” is to understand that my life is just one among many in our fragile planet. It is to understand that I’m not the center of creation that many a social medium is preaching everyday. And to know like you’ve never done before and believe that to save the lives of others is in fact saving my own.

The term “others” is all inclusive. People of all races and socio-economic status; all other Earth inhabitants both flora and fauna; we are all beneficiaries of just one world eco-system. What I consume today be it food, clothing or shelter deprives all others of the resources that produce them. We are talking about the resources of the Earth’s biosphere. This includes everything that is below and above the surface of land and water; everything that is visible and invisible in the air that we all breathe. A delicate balance needs to be maintained in order to achieve sustainability.

We as humans can contribute principally to this balance. We are actually called to restore the balance or perish. We have wittingly or unwittingly succeeded to destroy it with industrialization, urbanization and conspicuous consumption. We are producing so much carbon waste more than the earth and its forest and oceans can absorb. This imbalance in turn has brought about global climate change resulting to unprecedented inclement weather patterns, forest fires and the extinction of species both flora and fauna. The cumulative and cascading ecological imbalance is causing and will continue to produce new types of viral infections inimical to human life.

Through simple things that we humans individually can do in our daily lives like recycling, reducing calorie intake, clothing waste, walk instead of drive, train travel instead of plane, patronize products that are produced thru green technology, etc., we all help albeit in small strides in restoring ecological balance of our beloved planet. The only paradox that remains is that as we saved others who inhabit the planet, we saved ours today. And in the process, you may have actually saved the lives of future generations not only of our species but all others.

Rogelio Saldo Chua
Contributor