I came up with a simple way to define sustainability. Rather than debate the sustainability of paper straws or compostable bags, this way of thinking can be a call to action that anyone can understand.

I think it’s also timely and helpful to broaden the practice of sustainability.

Sustainability is a hot topic and has become an industry. However, sustainability can have an even more refined role in our daily lives. It can be part of our plan for well-being. Similar to how we check in with our happiness or if we eat vegetables, we can check in with our sustainability.

Everything is interconnected, and that is where sustainability can have a broader role in our lives. I’m not talking about carbon footprint here. I’m talking about energy and relationship.

We have forgotten who we are.

We experience an ongoing separation from the plant, animal, and mineral kingdoms. We tend to think, well, we humans are over here. And our water is over there, and the sky is out there. Nourishment in the form of food for most comes from somewhere else than where we dwell.

And so are separate from the very thing that gives us life.

This is complicated, and we are not entirely to blame. To function in this modern world, we have to turn a blind eye to problems or the ramifications of how we live. We have to work jobs to pay the rent and feed our families. Cold climates need heat and insulation. We need to maintain emotional well-being to get along with life. To do this, we compartmentalize everything, which is the foundation of these modern times or modernity.

It is what we have been handed or given, depending on where we were born. If you grew up living on the land and in community, without industrialization and the insertion of schools and government, it was possibly a different story.

However, the planet, this place that we dwell in, what we come from, and that which gives us our sustenance, is built on a very different foundation: everything is interconnected.

This moment, this time of great separation, some refer to as a meta-crisis:

Terry Patten (philosopher, author, activist, & social entrepreneur) describes the meta-crisis as:

“a single phenomenon. We may be thinking of it as an ecological crisis. We may be thinking of it as a psychological or spiritual crisis. We may be thinking of it as a cultural crisis and a breakdown of community, family, etc. We may be thinking of it as a crisis of government, economics, and finance. And, it is all of these things. But it’s not reducible to any one of them. That’s why it’s a meta-crisis.”

And so the world around us becomes a mirror. Maybe the question we should be asking ourselves isn’t if the electric car is sustainable but whether we are being sustainable. I think we know the answer to that already, but it is not my intention to leave you with a feeling of doomsday. But rather, to zoom out and look at the big picture with participation and longevity in mind.

My definition of sustainability is this:

You can do it forever, and it’s no big deal.

We all have things that we do and participate in that we have infinite energy for. There are things we will always have capacity for, until the day we die, such as looking into the eyes of our loved ones or getting up to dance when our favorite song is playing.

Without getting spiritual, many artists, musicians, and creative people speak of creating with infinite energy and “from somewhere else”. They often stay up all night to create works of art or compose a new song, and they can not ignore the call. Not sleeping is probably not sustainable, but you get what I’m saying. There is a naturalness to what I’m speaking of. It’s just happening. And so is the natural world. We are no different.

The many necessities required for living take hard work, such as growing food or building homes, but perhaps you have heard the expression: “Many hands make light work.”

I’m sure you have had the experience of being part of a team and feeling simultaneously the thrill of learning, participating, and leading. Or celebrating completion and success in a fine-tuned group. These things, these ways of being, are sustainable.

I love public transit, and I could do it forever, which is why I mention it. It is no stress to me, and I enjoy it. I like looking at all the people as we travel down the road or bus line. Many people do not feel this way. In some places, there are people who never even utilize it, but in others, it is a way of life. Without getting into a debate on public transportation–for me, I find that it’s grounding.

We know that using plastic, especially in its current decadence, is not sustainable. We know that we can not go on forever like this. We could research or argue about peak oil or using fossil fuels, but maybe we already have a hunch that petroleum is not sustainable even without the data.

We know that without community, family, or other people, survival is not possible, but even if we could, life would be empty and lacking.

You know that if you stay up too late regularly, it is not sustainable, and neither is going to the gym, then quitting and starting again. You know that if you search your heart of hearts, you might not like some aspect of how you are living. It tugs on you, in the back of your mind or the front, because in these modern times, we compromise to get by.

I’m asking you today, is there a way of living you are participating in that makes you uncomfortable, that you’d rather not continue with, and is there another way of living to increase that which you have infinite energy for?

What could you do or be, forever? That downstream— would have only good impacts.

Can you put sustainability at the forefront of your consciousness? The more we are interconnected to our bodies and hearts, the more we are interconnected to the world that we live in.

Just as in nature, there is a time and a place for chaos and taking risks. We have the responsibility or the blessing, depending on how you look at it, to know when to make a bold move and when to tread water.

Speaking of energy, the sustainability movement has gone a step further into the practice of regeneration. Regenerative means not only is it sustainable, but we have made it better. I will discuss regeneration or regenerative culture in another writing or podcast.

I believe there is no separation between our highest calling and our commitment to be stewards of this place we call Earth.