Sustainability

How we think is more important than what we do .

Thinking is how we make sense of the world , and how choose to act.

There are many R’s of sustainability , in this blog we will only cover 4.

The principles of sustainability have a hierarchical preference rating , with Rethinking being on top.

Why rethinking sustainability should be at front of mind.

Rethink is a vital R to consider , because if we don’t rethink some of our behaviors and thought patterns then no amount of spekboom will help the planet.

I am referencing the great Spekboom challenge of 2020 , that had possible negative consequences on the ecosystem . During this challenge, well intentioned members of the public (myself included) wanted to plant the carbon busting succulent around South Africa.

In this challenge the goal was to Reduce carbon in our atmosphere, unfortunately if we had taken the time to critique this idea across all the R’s would the goal still be archivable ? Lets run through the thought experiment:

Did the challenge embody the Reduce principle ?

Even through reducing carbon was the goal , it is likely that the challenge increased carbon emissions through transportation and packaging used (bubble wrap/ boxing / tape).

Did the challenge embody the Reuse principle?

Not at all , the goal was to purchase something you don’t have.

Did the challenge embody the Recycle principle?

Not at all, elements were only extracted out of the eco system

Did the challenge embody the Rethink principle?

Unfortunately not , it followed a typical consumer mindset rather than a sustainable and eco-considerate mindset.
Consumers of the challenge were encouraged to believe that this plant was the best thing for the environment , which is true for the environment it exists in , but not to foreign eco-systems.
The idea of being able to buy (consume) our way into sustainability is bad sense-making , which leads to ill-informed decisions and then potentially counter productive action.

The consumers of this challenge are not to blame for falling for something that sounded too good to be true, but we all fell victium to bad sense making due to a polluted information ecology. We know all about the polutanats we put into our eco-enviroments , but have not paused to think about the ploution that exists in our information-enviroments.

There is a trend in marketing to pollute our sense making by selling use ideas and an concepts as “Green” or “Sustainable” and play off our emotional desire to play our part . This trend is called “Green Washing”.

In reality this challenged ended up disrupting the eco system in which spekboom resides and it is likely to have increased carbon emissions.

One of our goals at EcoShield is to discuss and share ideas and thoughts that can help consumers Rethink their suitability choices and behaviors.

We call this Rethinking mindset , an Infinite or responsible ancestor mindset.

We believe that real change can only come about once we apricate the aspects of the sustainability principles, then we and truly embody the behaviors and mindset that will build a sustainable future.