Rethinking Sustainability on Earth Day
In the days surrounding Earth Day (April 22), it's time to meditate on the meaning of the word sustainability. It is a multidisciplinary term by definition, since it can be applied to a plethora of economic forces that set the world in motion. It is also, or perhaps, mostly, a philosophical issue.
To adopt principles of sustainability is to move to adopt a new philosophy. It means to move away from centuries of a profit-driven, anthropocentric view of the world to include the preservation of the planet into the praxis of any human enterprise. For a long time mankind was under the illusion that the world was an endless collection of resources. Now we know it's not the case and we have to re-think the way we exist on Earth.
I have heard from several brilliant minds, including the Indian Arundhati Roy, author of the best seller The God of Small Things, that we need to reinvent the concept of happiness. The idea of well-being has become too entwined with consumption and materialism. It is at the core of the environmental crisis we are faced with. We must rediscover the simplicity of life.
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Antonio Pasolini is a Corporate Social Responsibility writer for Justmeans, Antonio Pasolini is a journalist based in Brazil who writes about alternative energy, green living and sustainability. He also edits Energyrefuge.com, a top web destination for news and comment on renewable energy and Elpis.org, a recycled paper bag/magazine distributed from health food stores in London, formerly his hometown for over a decade. He is also a happy herbivore.
