The Sustainable Future

The Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators

Let's face it, metrics like Per Capita Income or Gross Domestic Product, while important, are inherently poor indicators of societal well-being by themselves. Part of the reason the world is in such a mess is an over-focus on the financial as the sole measurement of how we're doing.

If we're going to make different decisions to build a sustainable future, we have to recognize that we're operating in a holistic, interconnected system and take into account a much wider range of factors.

With that in mind, I was delighted when I ran across a more multi-faceted view of measuring quality of life. The Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators are "the result of an extensive six-year study by a multi-disciplinary group of practitioners and scholars from government agencies, for-profit firms, and nonprofit organizations who see the need for more practical and sophisticated metrics of societal conditions."

There are twelve Quality of Life Indicators, offering a much more robust (and accurate) view of well-being. They are (including links to pages with more details about each)...

• Education
• Employment
• Energy
• Environment
• Health
• Human Rights
• Income
• Infrastructure
• National Security
• Public Safety
• Re-Creation
• Shelter

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Non-toxic household product ideas

Most people's cupboards hold a noxious soup of toxic chemicals. If you want to jettison the toxins and replace them with something a little easier on both your body and the environment, here is a bucketload of non-toxic household product ideas.

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Green parking

In London, parking permit prices are starting to be tied to emissions:

A third of the British capital's 32 boroughs are now looking into similar schemes following a controversial decision by Richmond Council in south-west London last month that attracted both outrage and applause.

...Affluent Richmond started the trend in January by adopting a seven-tiered payment structure for parking permits which will be brought in before May.

The scheme will offer free parking for electric cars but would see a 200 percent increase on current rates for the most polluting vehicles such as gas-guzzling four-wheel drives.

And if you're driving an electric car in the borough of Camden, it gets even better...

Camden is also encouraging owners of electric vehicles to charge their batteries with power generated from renewable energy sources by setting up free charging points around the borough.

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Doom and gloom overload

I've ratcheted up my reading lately (blogs, articles, magazines, etc.) on various sustainability issues. The upside is that I'm increasingly aware of the issues. The down side is that sometimes the doom and gloom factor really feels like overload. There's so much that's screwed up in the world, it's easy to start to feel like you just want to crawl under a rock and hide.

I noticed what an almost physical relief it was earlier today when I was reading the Ecofriend blog, with its positive focus on eco-friendly products and things people have created  that support a sustainable path. I need to seek out more of that.

I'm not sure exactly how it will unfold, but I think I need to start incorporating a look at "bright shining moments" in the sustainability movement - for my own sanity if nothing else. Sustainability heroes, positive sustainability trends, positive developments, etc. I guess my sustainable living tips series fits in that as well.

Not to say I want to paint a Pollyana picture. I'll still look at the issues that we really need to be aware of. But after a while wave after wave of negative reinforcement about how the whole world is going to hell has a draining effect and makes it easy to get dispirited.

We need to wake up to reality, but we have to have enough of the positive to hold on to that we don't just give up swimming and sink.

Too much focus on the negative and we get bogged down in the hopelessness. Too much positive and we miss the urgency of the issues at hand. The key is finding that sweet spot where we are aware of reality, but stay positive and energized enough to be a force for change.

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Worthwhile podcasts from Greenbuild

Worthwhile magazine did a great series of podcasts recently from the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo in Atlanta. Definitely worth listening to.

Duane Elgin gives us a realistic look at the current state of things and offers some words of hope for the future.

Kirsten Ritchie talks about the growing trend in branding of environmentalism.

Bob Fox shares his vision on building a greener New York (including the building he is currently developing, One Bryant Park).

Andres Duany discusses the ties and conflicts between new urbanists and the environment, as well as the rebuilding of hurricane-ravaged Mississippi.

Finally, Traci Rider talks about building a green career.

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Definition of sustainable

I think a good place for me to start would be to simply define (as much for myself as for anybody who might be reading) what I'm talking about when I say sustainable.

On a very broad brush level there's this wikipedia definition:

Sustainable - the ability to maintain into perpetuity.

Then of course there are a bazillion different things that can be sustainable.

Sustainable agriculture, for example...

The word "sustain," from the Latin sustinere (sus-, from below and tenere, to hold), to keep in existence or maintain, implies long-term support or permanence.  As it pertains to agriculture, sustainable describes farming systems that are "capable of maintaining their productivity and usefulness to society indefinitely. Such systems... must be resource-conserving, socially supportive, commercially competitive, and environmentally sound." 

Or sustainable development...

The technical definition being "a sound balance among the interactions of the impacts (positive and/or negative), or stresses, on the four major quality systems: People, Economic Development, Environment and Availability of Resources," and

The none-technical definition being "a sound balance among the interactions designed to create a healthy economic growth, preserve environmental quality, make a wise use of our resources, and enhance social benefits."

And of course we can't forget sustainable business...

Business that contributes to an equitable and ecologically sustainable economy.

I could go on ad nauseum about variations on the sustainable theme, but you get the idea. Something that keeps us thriving without killing us in the process.

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Project Sustainable Future

I have a blog devoted to alternative energy sources, and I find myself constantly wanting to address sustainability issues beyond its energy focus. So I finally took the hint from my brain and thought, "Hey, why don't I create a sustainability blog?!"

And so I have. Just like that.

At this point I have no idea how this blog will unfold. I'm going to let the unfolding define it. But overall it is focused on the idea that a) our culture as it stands now is completely unsustainable, b) something needs to change, and c) people need to know about it.

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