This is the Dark Side of Sustainability
Every field of life is facing the modern topos of Sustainability. So everything is going to face this structural problem that requires more attention.
GROWTH
Yes, sustainability has a problem with growth, le’s start understanding what is its opposite, the concept of LEVERAGE.
Sustainability= the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.
Leverage= stress in a dis-equilibrated way a rate or level.
Visually we could image the allegory of the two playing building a tower of cards with same time, same number of cards and same goal (reaching the highest height possible).
Sustainability will spend more cards than Leverage in the foundation of its tower because conscious that a higher tower that falls down will stop to exist, leaving no proof for the winner.
The concept of growth (of the tower) takes different connotations when associated with Leverage or Sustainability. In particular, let’s dive into
Velocity vs Durability
Easy association Velocity-Leverage and Durability-Sustainability.
Now, let’s face the harsh truth, human beings have an unconscious concept of leverage sculpted in DNA. To understand this we have to remember our animal heritage, in particular the relationship between needs and efficiency. To survive we have inherited an unconscious libra that weighs the energy spent and the energy acquired. This libra permeated our daily life, making us comfortable with all the fast gains of innovation and consumeristic production.
Are we really ready to decrease the rate of growth?
and more: are developing countries ready to accept the compromise?
As lots of people know this path into sustainability HAS to be done. But think about it, Human beings for hundreds of year followed leverage and not sustainability. Are we close to an evolution of our principles? Are we ready to change? Are we stressing enough that sustainability will come at a cost? Are we going to be able to use force to impose sustainability?
The deepest of these needed changes are undervalued by the biggest part of activist, so please think about it, stop to be a dumb-activist and start to do something, not for your little own, start to work out solutions for the entire human beings species. Losing your time cultivating a little vegetable garden is the worst thing that you can do. Spend your time looking for real changes, that little garden is only a posh fashion, work on projects that can seriously make human-feeding sustainable in quantity, variety, energy, pollution and waste etc.
