I think I would define sustainability as processes and mindsets that contribute to equity for all and responsible conservation of our natural resources. I don’t think this definition is very different to how I felt about sustainability previously, but the workshop did help me find the words to articulate this definition. Like I mentioned in the workshop, I had never heard equity included in a definition of sustainability, and only heard sustainability used in conversations strictly about environmentalism. As we know from our workshop on interdependence, the reality is that you can’t separate working towards clean energy, for example, from working towards ethical business practices and equality.
The photo I chose is the one in which people are shown walking and cycling down a busy city street. I chose this photo because I felt it spoke to the fact that we don’t necessarily need to discard all of the infrastructure we have already created in order to be more sustainable, and that instead we can adapt things that we already have to be more sustainable. I meant this in the physical sense–things like buildings and transportation, for example–because I was thinking of sustainability in a limited sense. Within the broader sense of sustainability, I have to agree with some of my breakout room groupmates in that some things that we already have–the justice system, for example–are inherently biased in many ways including racism and misogyny. Systems like these will need to be changed if we are to have a sustainable society.
Maddy, I like your conclusion to begin to think about system-level change. What will it take to improve our societies? What do we want to sustain? How are these things interdependent? I am thankful that workshop was able to help you see the connections to justice and equity and how they connect to sustainability. It is much more than just the environment!