The idea of interdependence calls attention to how our choices (actions or inactions) affect others and ourselves. What are some of the choices you make every day that affect others?
Every day I make the choice to eat food from Dickinson’s cafeteria or purchase groceries in town, use electricity through my computer and lamps in my apartment, I walk but occasionally have friends pick me up in their cars to drive me to locations. Every choice affects others because it affects the environment. By eating at Dickinson, where the food will be composted, instead of other areas of Carlisle where I don’t know where the food will go, I am doing my part. By limiting my use of lamps and chargers, I am doing my part. By walking more instead of having friends drive me around, I am doing my part. However, these are small actions, and the bigger onus should be on corporations and the primary consumers of energy to reduce their patterns.
Do you see yourself as a ”product of interdependence”?
We all are. It is impossible to live in a society and not be a product of interdependence, or a source that creates more interdependence. Each of our actions contribute to the larger world and cannot be seen in a vacuum. If enough of us changed our ways there may be a potential for greater environmental impact, but a better concentration of our efforts may lie in targeting the bigger perpetrators of environmental degradation.
Define Sustainability:
I define sustainability as the efforts made by individuals and corporations to improve the current state of the environment, attempting to halt the development of environmental degradation.
What are some system level changes that you think would make a difference? You state… “However, these are small actions, and the bigger onus should be on corporations and the primary consumers of energy to reduce their patterns.” I challenge you to think about all the other levels besides just individuals and corporations. What about families, initiations (like Dickinson), communities, small business etc.? Think of the collective effort potential there as well. How can that be better leveraged locally and globally?