Check your premises (Premise = something assumed or taken for granted). By what set of values do you make your decisions as to which actions/choices/goods are preferable, which are “greener”?

Explore the meaning of Sustainability. Given the natural cycles of the planet, does the resource in question have the ability to regnerate itself? Can the earth grow/compost/create more, as quickly as humans are using it? 

When we make our choices - about modes of transportation, political issues, consumer products, or the activities we select for our lifestyles - the standard of measurement, the definition of earth-wise and “greener” must be Sustainability.  Does the product or technique under consideration bring us closer to the natural cycles of the earth?  What is the cost, to natural and human capital, of getting that product to the consumer? 

Learn how to spot the differences between green-washing/green-luxury, versus Sustainable choices. In the rush to Green, many companies have created products which sound greener, but aren’t really (ex: hydrogen fuel extracted using fossil sources); products which perpetuate our consumption (ex: “compostable” plastics for use-it-once products).  Does the consumer really need the product for sufficiency living, or does the product enable our addiction to excess?

Understand that to get from here to there, society will have to go through a Transition period, an interim which is not yet Sustainable but is less un-sustainable than our consumption-intense present. The important thing is for us not to invest enormous amounts of capital into infrastructure to support Transition activities, when we could be applying those resources toward more Sustainable activities.

See “Timeline to Sustainability”, Oct. 2006