and allowing sustainability to open a doorway to a better you.
Here are some perspectives to consider:
part of The Sustainability Generation. How you choose to live and
conduct yourself daily has an incredible impact on the world. Your
actions are as important to resource consumption as they are
to achieving nonviolence and more accountable financial and
political institutions. Defining sustainability within the context
of your current state, and aspiration of lifestyle is essential to
discovering balance, finding purpose, and achieving impact.
Think about where your life is today and where you'd like to be
in one, three, five, and twenty years from now. You may find that
your sustainability goals may not be "fixed". They shouldn't be.
Your behaviors and "context of living" change throughout life, as
you age and as other influences impact your life. Your definition
of sustainability should not be so rigid that it constrains you.
Instead it should be principled and flexible to allow you to make
the right decisions throughout your life. Remaining accountable
to your principles however is the crux of achieving a more
sustainable lifestyle.
Simplify sustainability to your lifestyle Life is complex
enough. Sustainability should not be adding additional chaos,
strain, frustration, or complexity to your life. It should however
serve to simplify your decisions and see through the clutter
of consumption to living with a greater sense of purpose and
realizing your full potential.
Be accountable to you and those around you It is easy to
say sustainability is global, or to complex, or that your actions
and behaviors are miniscule and will not make a dent toward a
global need. But this logic, which prevails in society, is flawed
and results in no net change and a generation of people destined
to repeat the mistakes of the past. One of the toughest things
to do is be accountable. Make decisions you can live with. Part
of being accountable is the act of knowing your constraints and
limitations, being sensitive to your time and resources (and those
of others), and living within your financial capacity.
Take action on sustainability and improving your life context
Once you have a sense of your sustainability goals stand-up
for change in yourself and others. Taking action on sustainability
means living your life with conviction and purpose toward a set of
principles that you feel are important to achieving success as you
define it. Delaying a better life only limits you from realizing your
to a better you sustainability provides a framework for critical
thinking, making informed decisions, and living a more balanced
lifestyle that redefines sense of self, self-worth, and success. You
have the control over your own life and a better world. Taking
action on your sense of sustainability and magnifying it to the
world through your daily actions will result in a "better you" and
in turn, a "better world".
Share your successes Success means different things to
different people. Yet, society romanticizes what success should
look like through projections in movies and literature, music and
politics. With so many influences on our definition of success,
from parents, grade school teachers, and politicians, it is no
wonder so many people are confused and find it challenging to
find happiness in their lives. Defining success requires your own
self-discovery into what drives you, what is important to you, and
how you intend to live your life. Regardless of your decision on
what success looks like for you, the important thing is to "own it",
live it, and when you achieve it, share it with others. In the act of
doing so, others may reconsider traditional views of success and
be empowered to pursue their own just as you have.
Make room for spirituality Spirituality can be as simple
as self-reflection, finding time to think, or working to be more
"present" in your life. Making room for spirituality allows you to
relax your mind, think about your happiness, and continuously
reflect on whether your life is being utilized at its fullest potential
and sense of purpose and impact.
billion people seek to live in harmony with the earth and one
another we will inevitable come up against many challenges.
However, by addressing the trade-offs, decision points, and
behaviors of your own life you become accountable to a more
sustainable world. Taking action on sustainability is not just
about buying a greener product. It is about redefining your
role as a citizen, consumer, and member of the generation
that is going to find the right balance of living in the here and
now while leaving something left for our children. Our lives
are measured by much more than what we own, where we
live, and what we individually achieve. How we choose to use
our lives, the impact we have on the world while we inhabit
the earth, and the state in which we leave the world when we
die are some of the true indicators of whether a life was lived
with purpose, passion, and accountability.