Welcome back to EarthLinks at the Roots. Today’s post explores what sustainability means in our daily lives. Click here to see the rest of the At The Roots Blog Series.

What does it mean to be truly sustainable?

“Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of responsibility, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of stewardship, the responsible management of resource use.”

-  Though I normally wouldn’t cite Wikipedia, this definition is thought provoking, and as you can tell, I’ve underlined my favorite parts –

At EarthLinks:

Our participants have endured great struggles with poverty, and yet they are still here, smiling, and making the world a more beautiful place every day — one flowered vase at a time. Beyond that, EarthLinks strives to educate the entire community on how to be more responsible towards Earth. Every Soap Sliver Saver that is stitched together here with repurposed fabric is an example of this kind of responsibility, maintaining the life of something already in existence by giving it a new meaning. Just as in life where you must recreate yourself, because you can’t throw out the old you and buy an upgraded version. You work with what you have. You can add to your knowledge, take away your bad habits, reinvent your appearance, but ultimately you only have the original pieces to work with, because that is how life is.

I only use this metaphor to emphasize the need for society to look the same way at products derived from the Earth. Often times, it is easier for us to throw something away then to determine a way to continue its life. For example: food. If we don’t eat all of our salad, we often throw out the rest. Sometimes we do save it for left overs, but eventually, if we don’t eat the salad, the landfill does- and once the salad ends up in a landfill, it soaks in toxins from what surrounds it (such as batteries) and goes on to poison Earth when it finally biodegrades. So, what would be a good way to repurpose the salad? We can compost it or put it in a worm bin. Both of those options utilize the nutrients the salad has to create something new — better soil for planting. Though you may need to consult someone initially on the best way to go about composting in your home, once you understand how to do it, it is very simple and is much healthier for Earth. If you want to give your salad even more life, you can plant seeds into your new compost-treated soil and grow your own vegetables for salad. Gardening at home means you get healthier food for you, and you are also minimizing the amount of gasoline used to transport food to you.

At EarthLinks, we recognize that sometimes doing the more sustainable thing can be difficult to adjust to, but there are so many small things you can do to help Earth that every effort counts. What is important to remember is that “being green” is a lifestyle, something you are always conscious of.

Tags: At The Roots