What does sustainability mean to you?

What does sustainability mean to you?

What is the definition of sustainability? The most common answer would be recycling and preserving the environment. By book, sustainability is defined as, “avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance”. Sustainability is a way of life; a way to think about longevity causing you to act. Now the real question is when should we really dig deep into thinking and acting sustainably? Some think it has to do with now, others think way ahead to 50 years from now. The real answer was hundreds of years ago when cavemen/ women discovered fire. Ever since the early ages we’ve been producing at such high rates our planet cannot keep up. Today, we are using about 150% of our planet. In the years to come, we will be using 200%. So what does this mean for you, your future children, the elderly women that lives down the street? Two planets are how much it takes to live in the way we are. People see these statistics and don’t know what to do with it. When there are lots they can do.

Earth’s system thinker is something who thinks sustainably on all levels. They think about the negative and positive impacts as a whole on the society, as well as the environment. Sustainability deals with not only physical environmental aspects but also human nature aspects. To be completely sustainable in all amounts of life.

The fashion industry does not carry the title of an earth's systems thinker. Surprisingly, the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world. Some people find this surprising, others know and continue to shop at places like Forever 21 and Zara. A systems thinker would think about not only the environmental impact from those pair of $29.99 Zara jeans but also down to the human impact of the person working in the mills overseas for cheap so that the jeans can be $29.99. Fashion brands that claim to be a sustainable need to think about all matters. In a fashion brand, thinking about energy, matter and the cycles all go hand in hand to created that balance we are in need off. If a company uses renewable energy resources but uses non-recyclable/ chemically enhanced materials it defeats the point and ruins the balance. Managing cycles within a fashion brand deals start to finish product. This is where most businesses cause the most harm, thinking about the harmful effects within each process of a garment. Going back to keeping the balance, if the product, in the end, has a one-time end use, it defeats the purpose of being sustainable. It’s not easy to be 100% sustainable, but working towards a change to be more sustainable in a part of a company will actually make a difference.