Beyond Sustainability

First studied environmental issues and climate change in the 70s. The issues were and remain the velocity of change, degree of impact and where, and possible remedies.

That said, sustainability was a clever, warm and fuzzy term that never quite made sense, as you now note. Despite inclination to provide a positive spin, the basic idea implies treading water in the hope of being rescued.

More broadly, short of entropy, there is no such thing as a “sustainable” process anywhere in the cosmos — the only constant is change. Under the best of situations, as Bob Dylan sang long ago, if you’re not busy growing you’re busy dyin’. So, again, as you note, the patronizing boy/girl scout lifestyle remedies have run their course. Scale and timeframe are insufficient.

The core problem, which you now seem to see, is that climate change is not a top priority in the political realm. Politics is first and foremost about money, and, second, doing nothing that hurts the money flow short of an absolute crisis that threatens a political career. Until that point, everything moves incrementally, at best.

So, sad to say, like other idealist efforts in all realms, unless energy and actions are focused on changing the political process itself, the only hope is waiting to be rescued — bad option.

On my Medium publication, A Passion to Evolve, you might find some of the articles of interest. In particular, you might start with a longish but detailed big picture assessment of where we are and options going forward with article entitled, Macroscopic Evolutionary Paradigm

Doc Huston