A lot of us working in the sustainability space know the importance of and necessity for change. Change in policy to support development, change in attitudes for increased awareness of problems, change in technology for better outreach and responsiveness, we all feel and express the need for change.
And we’re optimistic – change has happened in our time and we’ve celebrated it. However, sometimes I am lead to believe that may be we haven’t protested enough. We have moved from cloth bags to plastic bags, from dried leaf packaging to synthetic packaging, from public buses to cars. We celebrated this change, reveled in it. Now, we reconsider it – we ask people to be more responsible citizens by turning towards sustainable alternatives. May be, we should have treaded carefully in the first place.
I write this hoping that we have the foresight to understand the externalities of our progress, our change, and make our decisions rightfully and knowledgeably. I hope that we truly comprehend when change is sustainable and when not because if change is not sustainable, is it change at all?