“Sustainability is a characteristic of a process or state that can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely.”
The dictionary definition: The act of sustaining. The condition of being sustained.The supporting of life or health; maintenance: Something, especially food, that sustains life or health. Means of livelihood.
sus·tained, sus·tain·ing, sus·tains : To keep in existence; maintain. To supply with necessities or nourishment; provide for. To support from below; keep from falling or sinking; prop.
“To keep in existence: Maintain”- To me, this is the best meaning of “Sustainability”.
Sustainability isn’t just about our food source, or our farming methods, it emcompases everything vital to the continuation of the planet earth and the life forms that exist on this glorious planet.
What we decide to do today, and how we decide to do it impacts what happens tomorrow and everyday after that. The ripple effect: Each choice we make causes a “ripple effect” in our lives. How we choose to live, or how we choose to act (or react) will impact the sorrows or joys of our future.
Sometimes when I read the headlines I am reminded of a poem I once read written by Robert H. Smith, called The Clock of Life, it goes like this:
The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop,
At late or early hour.
To loose one’s wealth is sad indeed
To loose one’s health is more,
To loose one’s soul is such a loss
That no man can restore.
The present only is our own;
Live, love, toil with a will,
Place no faith in tomorrow, for
The hands may then be still.
Although the poem is lovely, I think the sentiment it conveys is selfish. Even though I believe in living each day to its fullest, I also believe that you should leave something for tomorrow. When the hands of time stop, for me, I believe the work I have done, and the world I leave behind should be left a little better for my having been here. The present is, after all, the gift we will be leaving for our childrens future.
Look at that corn fly!