 |
| "Friends and Neighbors" |
|
|
This time around, however, I attempted to refrain from beating myself up. I recognized that I am, every inch, a westerner. I am an American. Raised in a culture and a civilization dangerously teetering on the brink, my fellow neighbors, friends, co-workers, peers, lovers, family and myself constitute only 5% of the world's population and, yet, we consume
over 24% of the Earth's energy. I am not alone in my misery, nor am I alone in my desire to change. Most of the time, though, I simply don't know how. So, I look around me for mentors who model an alternative. Ironically, last week, as I was openly questioning what sustainability is, I realized that for all of the good deeds and hard work that these others around me demonstrate, they are also equally striving to discover their own balancing points.
They strain their backs relying on bicycles to get from point A to point B as they navigate the everyday of their city lives. They deposit their gentle love into soil that will never yield fruit-bearing trees. They work tirelessly, without pay, and with little regard for their own health and well-being. They give and give and give and give and expect nothing to little in return. Really, this is sustainability?
What, then, does it mean to be sustainable?
