Sustainability: What is it and why is it important?
We’ve all heard the word sustainability get thrown around, whether on social media, the news or through speaking with friends. But what actually is it? Is it important? How is it relevant to us and our lives? These are all questions we asked ourselves when starting our sustainability journies, and things we frequently discuss still as we continue to evolve and learn. We wanted to give a little insight into what sustainability is and why it is important so that should these be questions you are currently pondering we can help provide some clarity (hopefully!).
Why do we need to try and be more sustainable? Quite simply, because we cannot maintain our current quality of life as humans, the diversity of life on Earth, or Earth’s ecosystems unless we embrace it and make the necessary changes.
A lot of emphasis on the sustainability discourse is placed on the environment, but it’s important to remember that it also includes social and economic factors. The main focus of sustainability is the need to avoid the exploitation of people and natural resources.
Sustainability will look different to everyone as it will reflect their location and circumstances. While lots of social media accounts out there will suggest a “one size fits all and you should be able to fit a year’s worth of rubbish into a jar” approach this just isn’t realistic for everyone.
For example, our nearest bulk shop is a 30-minute drive away and involves paying for parking and walking for 10 minutes with toddlers to get there. Or we could take the hour each way bus trip which would be better than driving but would cost us £15 in bus fairs as opposed to £4 in an hour’s parking. So we go about once a month and also visit the library and tie in other errands and activities.
What I’m saying is if you don’t have all the time and money to throw at the situation you probably won’t be able to be 100% perfect, but that’s not your fault or something to feel bad about. Our society is not yet set up to make it easy for us to achieve living a 100% sustainable lifestyle; what we need to focus on is doing the best we can do with what we have, spending our money on the sustainable option as often as we can, and using our voices to let others know why we are making these changes.
And while I think that having a year’s worth of rubbish in a jar isn’t achievable for many, I do think that these accounts can offer inspiration and tips for how we can make small changes to our lives. Over time these small changes all add up to making a huge difference to the footprint we will leave. When I started this journey 6 years ago I never would have believed I would be making my own cleaning products, using reusable nappies or eating a vegan diet! It started as cutting down food waste and finding a more sustainable loo roll. – we use Who Gives a Crap if you are interested.
Don’t be afraid to take the first step, you can build on it once it becomes part of your normal routine. If you try and change your whole house overnight all of your routines and traditions will need to be overhauled at once. If you do it in baby steps you can build on it will be something that becomes part of your life for life.
Over the next month, we’ll be sharing as many tips and ideas as we can to help you on your journey. If you are looking for more of this content right now then you can head over to our sustainable swaps posts. We have one for the kitchen, the bathroom, one for swaps for children and one for buying presents.
Livvy and Summer
