Introduction to sustainability

Let’s first clarify what we mean by sustainability and touch on some essential points about its history and the relationship between humans and nature.

What is sustainability anyway?

Sustainability is a wonderful concept. It is both an ideal to fuel our aspirations for a better future and a concrete practice that can shape our everyday actions. It can be applied to almost any situation, product, or service; it is contextual and subjective.

What is the ‘most’ sustainable in one circumstance, can be quite different to what is the most sustainable in another. This also means though that the practice of sustainability can be messy, and at times confusing.

How do we know if something is sustainable? Isn’t ‘sustainability’ just the new term for ‘eco-friendly’? What information can we trust? Is it even possible to know how to practice sustainability without being a scientist or a sustainability expert?

With some background knowledge and simple tools at your disposal, you can become the expert in your own business, community, and household. You can make a tangible contribution to taking care of the planet and its inhabitants.

Sustainability it’s not a new idea; sustainability has been practiced for millennia by indigenous peoples globally. So rather than learning something new, the process of learning how to practice sustainability is akin to a remembering. Reminding ourselves that we are nature, not separate from it.

Humans and nature

While some might believe the planet would be better off without human beings, this view still holds humans as separate to nature. Robin Wall Kimmerer, a Botanist, Professor of Environmental Biology, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, in her seminal book Braiding Sweetgrass shows us that the health of many plant communities and their ecosystems relies on, and have co-evolved with, human care; remove humans and the ecosystems decline. She asks us to reconsider “do you think the earth loves you back?” (Kimmerer 2013, p124).

Bruce Pascoe, an author and Yuin, Bunurong, and Tasmanian man, similarly argues in his renowned work Dark Emu (2014), that indigenous land management and agriculture across Australia have kept ecosystems healthy. It is a returning to this reciprocal relationship with the planet that the true practice of sustainability asks of us.

Watch the following video as Deakin University lecturer Tyson Yunkaporta shares insights from his book, Sand Talk, describing it as his ‘contribution to a discussion we desperately need to have.’

The following video can also offer some valuable insights as Albert Wiggan argues for the recognition of Indigenous knowledge as a valid scientific perspective that contributes significantly to ecological sustainability and environmental understanding.

In this course, you’ll learn about the latest advancements in sustainability and gain insights into current practices. In Week 2, we’ll also hear inspiring sustainability stories from local communities. Stay tuned!

Share your thoughts

What does sustainability mean to you, and where do you think you can make an impact?

Share your thoughts in the comments section.

References

_{Christie, B. and Miller, K. (2016) Academics’ opinions and practices of education for sustainable development: reflections on a nation-wide, mixed-methods, multidisciplinary study, in Routledge handbook of higher education for sustainable development, edited by M. Barth, G. Michelsen, M. Rieckmann and I. Thomas; Routledge: Oxon, p396-410}

_{Kimmerer, R. W. (2013) Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants, Milkweed Editions}

_{Pascoe, B. (2018) Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture, Magabala Books}