The year is 2018. Production has become faster than ever, waste has accumulated to irreversible amounts, people are burning clothing as protest, oceans are on the path to contain more plastic than fish, and those ruling our country believe that global warming is hoax. If there is any right time to educate ourselves on sustainability and our planet, it's now.
What is sustainability? According to Margaret Robertson, author of Sustainability Principles and Practices, sustainability means "enduring into the long-term future; it refers to systems and processes that are able to operate and persist on their own over long periods of time". If we take a step back and think about all of the humans that occupy this planet, we are roughly at about 7.6 billion people. Each person creating waste and using up resources at rapid rates. Our planet has the beautiful ability to replenish itself of its natural resources but no where near as fast as the rate at which humans are consuming them.
In the same way that people choose to be fit as a lifestyle or choose to be vegan as a lifestyle, we all must to choose to be sustainable as a lifestyle if we want to continue using our earths resources with out running out. For the sake of a quality life for ourselves, our children, our grandchildren, and so on, it begins with us. It begins with reusing and recycling. It begins with reducing waste and buying products as investments, not as quick buys that will end up in the trash. It begins with cleaning up our environment and our oceans. It begins will the end of mass production and the start of making solely what is necessary. The list can go on for ages of all we can do as residents of this planet to keep it clean and healthy and uncontaminated, but at the end of the day, it begins with one person, you. One person becomes many and they can trigger a domino effect of sustainable thinkers. If we do not put sustainable practices into action effective immediately, there is no telling what will happen to our planet earth.
References: Robertson, Margaret. Sustainability Principles and Practice. Second ed., Taylor and Francis, 2017.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI loved the way you started with saying if you weren't a sustainable thinker in the past, well now is the time to start-- that really captured mine and other reader's attention. I also loved the specific information you included about sustainability by Margaret Robertson, it was very informative and even taught me some new terminology. I couldn't agree more that how to begin becoming a sustainable consumer in the fashion industry starts with your purchasing, who and what companies you are investing your money into, their practices as sustainable thinkers as well. Company and production , consumer and consumption should be a full circle of being sustainable.
Really amazing post! I loved it, Great job!
Maria Lieggi