What's Sustainability Version 2.0

What I realized from this class is that everyone has a varying degree to which they view sustainability. Just as Uexküll talked about our umwelts, we all see things in a different light. Some see sustainability with great attention and find that it is a pertinent for us to act now so that what we have is actually sustainable, or long lasting. Some see those people as tree huggers and are focused on what society has deemed important such as money and one's reputation. Then there are people, such as myself, who see the entire spectrum, at the completion of this course. I realize that there is no way we can just drop everything and turn to sources that are completely renewable and have zero waste. However I have become more aware of the impact that we have on our world with even the smallest of things. Such as the water waste that is affecting us more than ever, and how turning the water off to brush my teeth can help in the long run. It is these small steps and actions that we take to sustain our future. To sustain, I believe, is to take action so that we can maintain healthy productive lives, with minimal cost to the environment we live in. When I think of this I am reminded of a saying my father used to always say when we went camping with regard to our waste, "You pack it in, you pack it out, leave it nicer than you found it." I feel like that sums up sustainability rather nicely. We must all account for our waste and we must all leave our environment nicer than when we came into it.