Words like sustainability and diversity can only mean so much when their definitions are often different between two people. How can we be sustainable if we do not understand and agree upon what sustainability really is?
Sustainability
Sustainability in its simplest form is the ability to sustain. Sustain means to preserve, remain, stand-fast, hold position, or maintain current conditions. So really, sustainability is the ability to self-maintain. From that perspective sustainability can not stand alone, it must describe something else.
Proponents of sustainability have decided that society, at present, is not sustainable. Insisting that instead of being conquerers we should be caretakers. As conquers of Earth humans will perish. But as caretakers of Earth the human race can continue into the future. To be a caretaker we must first be sustainable. However, what that actually entails is often overlooked.
Sustainable measures may include the buying up of forest and prime croplands in Central and South America and Africa for production of bioenergy crops. This displaces thousands of indigenous peoples who lose their homes and ways of life to profit-seeking foreign investors while decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels.
Is this a good thing? Is the benefit of mass producing cheap bioenergy crops worth more than the destruction of self-sustainable communities?
Compare that sustainable quagmire with this one. Often people decide to ride their bike or walk places when they could have taken their automobile. What they do not realize is that because they are using their automobile less, it incurs less wear and tear and uses less gas than normal. Leading to fewer trips to the gas station and mechanic. This pulls money and jobs out of the community as less money is spent and fewer workers are needed to satisfy demand. Of course, by not driving that automobile greenhouse gas emissions are reduced as well as vehicle related expenses and doctor office visits (because of the health benefits of regular exercise and car related incidents).
While global, local and environmental sustainability are benefited, global and local economic sustainability are negatively affected. The person making the decision to walk instead of drive improves their economic sustainability. Their decision affects more than just them. Thus, it is paramount to understand the context when discussing or making decisions about the sustainability of anything, anywhere or anyone.
Diversity
Diversity, like Will Ferrel says in the movie Anchorman, may have been an “Old, old wooden ship.” but the word and concept likely came from elsewhere. Diversity is often used in the field of ecology where it is a measure of both evenness (the distribution of populations relative to each other. ex. For five apples and seven oranges, apples make up 42 percent of the total population and oranges 58 percent, therefore the evenness is fairly uniform) and richness (the total number of players. ex. For the apple-orange scenario the richness would be two).
A community with lots of primary producers (the 99 percent) and a few dominating individuals (the 1 percent) is not diverse. A community of many individuals distributed along the entire hierarchy (a greater than two class system) is diverse. The more diverse a situation the more resistant it is to change and failure.
The term diversity is also used in business. Just like in nature, the greater the diversity of investments (placement of eggs), the more eggs in different baskets, the less likely all the eggs will be destroyed by the collapse of one basket.
Permaculture
Permaculture is a word less widely known and understood than sustainability or diversity. The word comes from the combination of permanent and agriculture, which is what it means. One should view permaculture as a system with minimum inputs and non-degrative outputs. A system which assimilates and recycles wastes and serves multiple purposes. This system does not require intensive (cost and labor) up keep and continuously improves. Permaculture is a business model and a way of life. In permaculture the system does the work while one simply enjoys the benefits. Permaculture is attainable at any size and scale.
Tomorrow
What is today but tomorrows yesterday? If we are always passing something off saying we will do it tomorrow nothing will ever happen because tomorrow does not exist without today. Today will soon be over and tomorrow will be today. Do not treat tomorrow as though it is the untouchable future, instead treat tomorrow as you would today: embrace it, love it and live in it.
Four Words
Separately these words sustainability, diversity, permaculture and tomorrow are all concepts. When put together, used properly and integrated into our daily lives they mean a whole lot more. Sustainability means taking care of our environment through sound social and economical practices. Diversity means bolstering a wide array of distributed yet sustainable populations, ideas and practices. Permaculture is sustainable agriculture which utilizes diversity to produce food, fuel and fiber for the inhabitants of tomorrow. Tomorrow does not exist without today. We must act today for those of tomorrow. These words, when applied, transform us from conquerers of Earth to caretakers of our planet.
