What is Sustainability...again

Just as Dr. Van Horn and Jason predicted, I find it harder now to define sustainability than I did before this class began. While my previous definition, “the process of making sure every natural resource offered on this planet stays accessible and stays plentiful for as long as possible,” has merit, there’s more to it. After all, corn is a natural resource, and it will definitely stay accessible and plentiful for a long time. As we saw from the documentary “King Corn,” we’re growing more and more of it every year and it looks very unlikely that that crop will disappear any time soon. In addition, corn is keeping other things “sustainable” as well. We can use corn as a cost-effective way to feed livestock, another natural resource that we are continuing to preserve. One could even make the case that, by using corn to create an ethanol fuel, we could potentially keep oil and natural gas more sustainable by using less of it. By my first definition, our management of corn seems extremely sustainable, but we all know it isn’t. The corn we are creating is not edible, and the crop is taking up space that we could be using for something that everyone can eat. The livestock that are eating corn are not nearly as nutritious or able to transmit energy as efficiently. The corn we use as products for other food, such as corn syrup and oil is extremely unhealthy and causing more cases of diabetes all the time. It is for examples like corn that I realize my previous definition is not perfect.

For my new definition, I am reminded of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who, when asked how to define obscenity simply said, “I know it when I see it.” This might have to be the extent of my sustainability definition. While my first definition is a good indicator, sustainability ultimately boils down to just recognizing it, understanding the environment and what helps it and its inhabitants. Sustainability includes short showers, education, eating less corn and corn-fed animals, turning lights off, supporting green energy, eating locally as John Ikerd talks about, retrofitting buildings as Ann Rappaport mentioned, and even staying still, as Rebecca Solnit wrote. Sustainability covers so many different things that there’s no way to write a sentence or two that defines it.

However you define sustainability, the most important thing I learned about it this year is that it is completely attainable. In the readings and the ted.com video, we’ve seen amazing things already being done to make the world more sustainable, such as water pumps that act as merry-go-rounds and fog catchers. But even more important is the knowledge of how easy it is for each person to help out: Shorter showers, reusable containers and water bottles, no longer using trays. All of these things are fairly easy and can be done by almost everyone. This information definitely makes me more hopeful. Will our country and our world eventually become more sustainable with this kind of knowledge? I’m not sure, but I’ll know it when I see it.