About Sustainability Works
Living Sustainably in our modern civilisation
Living sustainably is fun and affordable.
To change to sustainable living: See also: Easy Being Green | Action Earth TV | Heat: George Monbiot
Ideas Behind Sustainability Works
The appeal and benefits of sustainable living.
Below is a list of some of the immediate benefits of living sustainably as applied to individuals, companies and governments:
- Energy and resource savings leading to lower costs;
- Less consumption, less junk and clutter, less landfill, less debt;
- More funds available for worthwhile projects like your home, community projects, public works;
- More time spent with nature, people, the local community and the global community;
- Survival of civilisation.
SW attempts to point out the benefits of sustainable living.
SW also points out to some of the threats to our civilisation that cannot be ignored if we are to get the whole system to work.
Threats and Opportunities
Living sustainably requires changes to all our resource use and how we treat the environment. Addressing climate change is our biggest and most immediate threat, but it is not our only threat. With each threat, lies opportunities to make our world a better place for all of us. Wouldn't it be great if we take these opportunities to improve our triple bottom line. To have a financial system that did not ignore the costs and impacts on people, biodiversity and land.
A Lighter Footprint
For ideas on how to reduce your impact on the planet go to my Guide to Sustainable Living or get of copy of a A Lighter Footprint.
Waste Is Food / Cradle to Cradle / Going Native
In a sustainable world, Waste is food. This is demonstrated by nature and also now in our human made world. Read the review of Cradle to Cradle and the circular economy.
For millions of years, nature has found ways to live sustainably and thus life has evolved so that every thing that is discarded by one plant, animal or system is used by another. Unfortunately, we are creating waste that is difficult or impossible to re-use. In the long term only a sustainable society will allow us to continue living. Thus we need to live like nature does. These books explore how we can both maintain our modern civilisation and live in harmony with nature.
Cradle to Cradle
Going Native.
Individuals, Companies and Governments
Much of this website may appear to focus on what individuals can do to live sustainably. Although individuals volunteering to make changes is a strong driving force, for civilisation to stop Climate Change and environmental disaster, we need action at all levels. To effectively make this happen, we need a level playing field and thus Governments must create incentives and en-act laws as both the carrot and the stick to make change.
These laws must be fair locally and internationally. Using climate change as an example, we must apply the Kyoto Principles of fairness such as 'Polluter Pays' and 'Ability to Pay'. This means that the Western World must take a lead in retarding climate change as it created the problem over the last century, and has become rich by burning fossil fuels and creating the problem. Developing countries such as China and India may be catching up to the West in levels of GHG pollution, but they are less likely to retard their emissions if we don't do it first.
Here is the irony. Solving the Climate Crisis will cost us a tiny amount of our GDP. The reason Australia has stalled on this issue is the Fossil Fuel and Energy Intensive industries known as the 'Greenhouse Mafia' have been writing the policy of the Howard Government and we must assume they have also funded the Howard Government's election campaigns. For more see Scorcher by Clive Hamilton and High and Dry by Guy Pearse.
This website has been built with the following ideas in mind.
Sustainable living can be compatible with living comfortably
No-one wants to live more primitively and living sustainably doesn't mean you have to.
But it does mean we all have to make some changes.
Low Cost and Low Pain
Although choosing a sustainable option will often cost more than conventional options, financial and other benefits can often be received in short time frame. If all costs and benefits were assessed purely in financial terms to our economy, the sustainable option always wins. Non sustainable options really just pass the buck to someone else or to future generations at a higher cost to resolve.
This is analogous to the increasing amount of financial debt many of us are prepared to take on. The numbers of people unable to meet their repayments is increasing. Unfortunately, as our population grows and we are becoming more environmentally bankrupt, there is no global environmental bank that can clear our debt an allow us to restart without disruption to civilisation. The benefit of early adoption of sustainable technology is a lower cost to our economy over time and the avoidance of economic, environmental and human crises.
Spotlight / Relook / Review
I've witnessed a few cases of new buildings and renovations where the owner/builder/developer were either unaware of, or ignored many great sustainable ideas and products. It is my aim is to put these back in the spotlight with a short explanation of their value for money and benefit to the environment. You will also find my reviews of some of the popular and some overlooked books and movies on Climate Change and Sustainability.
Springboard / Portal
This site is largely a portal or a springboard to other superior sources of information.
I'll point you to the best sites I can find.
Information Obsolescence
I want the info on this site to become obsolete (but will work to keep it fresh). All sustainability efforts should ultimately aim to become obsolete because ultimately sustainable living should be like water to a fish... By that I mean it should be normal and everyday. In such a world, waste equals food.
I hope the information on this site is useful, but if it obsolete, then that is great news as it means society has moved forward to be more sustainable.
"I already do all those things ...."
Then help someone that doesn't or find a new sustainable project that needs support.
Work in Progress
This site is created by one individual. I have done this partly to make an impact on society and partly for my own experience and enjoyment. The scope of this site is very broad and I am creating this site in my spare time along with other projects, so I apologise in advance for any errors or omissions.
Regional Relevance
Some information on this website is local to Inner Sydney, but most of the concepts should be useful to anyone in Australia or on Planet Earth.
Updated Dec 2007