I think I am familiar with sustainability. It is a word I have been hearing since elementary school. But when I sit down and think quietly, what is sustainability? I can only think of the counterpart, a series of outcomes that will happen if we forgo sustainable practices.
When I was young, sustainability was the same thing as environment. In art class, if the theme was about environment, I would draw a crying earth, with gray smoke, some scars, and empty forests represented by a number of stumps. When I entered into middle school, and started taking chemistry classes, sustainability would remind me of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide and so forth. When H1N1 first hit human beings, sustainability meant no chicken in the future.
However, none of the above is accurate. Sustainability, while a noun, should be thought of as a verb. I would rather call it an action noun. In a broader sense, it means using suitable practices to minimize environmental damage and thus prolong human beings’ life on the earth. To make it more understandable, sustainability is turning off household devices when we are not using them; it is walking, riding bikes, or taking buses rather than driving cars; it is recycling whenever possible; it is not overusing detergent when washing clothes or dishes; it is a ton of seemingly difficult but, in fact, very convenient and accessible practices that not only the experts suggest but the ordinary people can also adopt easily.
Sustainability is a combination of the two words: sustenance and ability. It refers to people’s ability to sustain themselves if given limited resources. Since it is a capability, people can learn it and improve it. Different from other skills, it is easy to manage, and it not merely benefits yourself but also others.
—–Christina Dou