SustainableCommunity

What is sustainability anyway? Part I.

By ChrisJun 5th, 2009

What is sustainability?
(Photo on the left: Mary Hodder, right: Okinawa Soba)

If you are reading this blog then it is more than likely that you have heard the word “sustainability” used over and over again in a variety of contexts over the past several years. Some of you may have a very clear definition, though if you shared it with other similar readers you may find some major differences of opinion, while others will have a more vague idea (it’s something about the environment, dude…) or none at all. I myself identify with the middle group because while I thought I knew exactly what sustainability meant, the more I read the more I realize how flexibly the word is actually being used.

We have sustainable living, sustainable business, sustainable growth, sustainable agriculture, sustainable development, sustainable sustainability (OK, I made that one up), sustainable design, sustainable products, sustainable travel (travel forever?), etcetera, etcetera. What does all this mean? What are the differences? With everyone using the word, it must be important. So perhaps it is also important to figure out what everyone is trying to say, and alternatively, what they really mean.

If you find yourself nodding (even just a little bit) then I would like to welcome you to a new series of blog posts here at greenz.jp on sustainable living in Japan. I’m going to start off with the basics so that we don’t all confuse each other by using the same word with different meanings. I will define, for the sake of this blog only, what I’ll choose to think sustainability is, and what that means in the context of what every human spends most of their time doing, namely, living. And, because I happen to be living here in Japan, a country whose past culture happens to have a lot to say on the topic, I’ll do my best to fill you in as we go along on what they do in fact say about it, and more importantly, what they are doing about it.

After defining my terms, I’ll write about sustainable living across the globe and here in Japan and include information on current, past, and future communities and the ideas they believe in and goals they aspire to (or didn’t, as the case may be). I’ll also throw in my own two cents as we go along just because I tend to be rather opinionated and it’s just more fun that way. In the process, I hope to slowly but surely draw a picture. Not a picture of a single way of life but rather a picture of possibilities and diversity, so that ultimately, you can define sustainable living for yourself and, even better, have a go at it.

I hope to see you here next week when we will actually start to talk about what “sustainability” is!

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