Here is this week’s blog prompt:
Though the concept of sustainability can seem vague and confusing, it is not something we should avoid. In fact, taking the concept’s dynamism, contested nature, and context-specificity seriously is exactly what is demanded of us if we want to achieve a future not built on our past mistakes. We simply have no choice but to wrestle with sustainability…as individuals, institutions, and societies. It is our duty to seek that illusive balance and to continually learn from our mistakes as we pursue solutions which truly balance environmental, social and economic responsibility. Anything less is simply unacceptable and ultimately not going to work (i.e. UN-sustainable).
As messy as the concept of sustainability is, there are helpful guidelines out there, as provided by Ackerman-Leist in adopting the “soil to soil” perspective.
None of us are perfect and few come close to living sustainable lifestyle in regards to transportation, housing, entertainment, and food. Often times even our attempts at sustainability can have negative consequences in creating airs of elitism, causing unintended social justice issues, or creating unbalanced market realities.
In this post, I offer two challenges:
1) Using the series of calculators provided at this link, analyze two of your daily behaviors. Comment on what you found in regards to carbon, nitrogen, slavery, etc. and whether the results causes you to make a change in your own life.
2) Ackerman-Leist promoted the return of “biosolids” back into the system of food production. To some this is a radical and preposterous claim. What is the social, legal and cultural process that must take place for revolutionary sustainable behaviors to not only be accepted but adopted?