Conscious Sustainability

Sustainability is more often than not portrayed as something that makes us feel a little bit guilty. A little bit like we should know better. Like we should do better. Like we are not good enough. The sustainability discourse goes something like… as a species, you are basically a parasite, and the only way for you to “behave” is to be punished and regulated. There is not enough to go around for everyone to be happy, so we all need to sacrifice a little bit of our happiness, otherwise we will all die. If you are doing well in life, you are probably a bad person. Does this sound familiar?

With the term “conscious sustainability”, I propose a different discourse: sustainability is all about connection. With ourselves, with each other, and with the planet and all of its inhabitants. Nature, is by definition, infinitely abundant. If you have ever watched the yearly cycle of an apple tree, you will have experienced its incredible bounty. Nature works as cycles within cycles. Being sustainable is not about the need to sacrifice, to be less, to breathe less… it is not about enforced austerity. It is about attuning ourselves to these cycles. We are out of sync with the planet. Our addictions to consumption are not resolved by putting ourselves on a diet based on shame and guilt, but by restoring the sense of connection that we are trying to find in materialism. Sustainability is not about sacrifice, it is about connection.