Sustainability has been quite a buzz word that businesses like to use to differentiate their products and service. In China, the government has also been promoting the concept of sustainable development. I did not fully understand its meaning, but still used it whenever I found appropriate. After living in Iceland for three months and learning about sustainability, I had completely different comprehension of this word.
It takes time and systematic learning process for one to truly understand a concept. Even more effort is required to develop one’s own interpretation of the concept. Therefore I would not say I already know what sustainability exactly means. Thus far what I learn leads me to believe that sustainability means the balance between human’s needs and the Earth’s needs. Looking at the timeline of the Earth’s history, human only takes a minute part in the very end of the spectrum. Indeed, the Earth and its non-human inhabitants have long lived prior to human’s existence. Arguably the Earth does not need human to thrive. On the contrary, human relies heavily on the Earth to merely just stay alive. This inequation puts unavoidable responsibility on human that he has to limit his wants that will result in damaging the Earth in addition to having his needs satisfied. In return, the Earth’s needs are not what human should give, instead she only needs human not to take too much from her. Therefore to my understanding, sustainability means to achieve the balance between human’s needs (and wants) and the Earth’s needs so that both can thrive indefinitely.
Moreover, to understand sustainability fully, one also needs to learn about what is NOT sustainable. Many environmental tragedies and forthcoming disaster human is facing have proved the path taken is not sustainable. Human is now at a critical point, where he needs to realize the reality, to reflect on the mistaken past, and to shift the paradigm systematically for a sustainable future.
-Ub Qiu