What Sustainable Living And Self-Sufficiency Means And Why You Should Care

The word ‘Sustainable’ appears to be the buzz word of the early Twenty-First century. It’s increasingly used by politicians and the government, business and marketing, media and entertainment and ordinary, everyday people. It is used in all kinds of discussion and debate, policy and purpose, subject and science.

Increasingly used is the term ‘Sustainable Living’ and for a really good reason.

The best definition of Sustainable Living I have come across is; “Sustainable living is fundamentally the application of sustainability to lifestyle choice and decisions. Sustainability itself is expressed as meeting present ecological, societal, and economical needs without compromising these factors for future generations. Sustainable living can therefore be described as living within the innate carrying capacities defined by these factors. “ See Earthhuddle.com for a diagram which will enable a better understanding of this definition.

There are several other definitions of sustainable living that may be easier for some to understand. For example, sustainable living is “a lifestyle that can be sustained without exhausting natural resources. That is: living simply and efficiently, and making everything we do use last as far as possible and achieve as much as can be achieved”. Whilst this definition of sustainability is quite acceptable, it does tend to focus on the environmental or ecological aspects solely and does not address society and the economy, topics that must be included in today’s world if we are to be truly sustainable.

The expression “sustainable living” has arisen quite rapidly as a result of the present economical, social and environmental challenges we must face. Many words and phrases have arisen with this, such as sustainable living, sustainable practices, sustainable housing, sustainable development, sustainable energy, sustainable business, sustainable agriculture, sustainable forestry, the list goes on. All these are enormously important to the overall sustainability and sustainable living dimension and there are many individual articles written about these topics.

Sustainable living is absolutely essential. History has shown us that cultures collapse and disappear when they are no longer sustainable. However, with reckless overuse of the word or phrase by politicians, business, media and the likes, are we in danger of abusing the word so much that it loses its value, importance and impact? Is the word ‘sustainable’ becoming unsustainable?

Sustainable Living or sustainability is a subject we must all familiarize and educate ourselves and others about. Sustainability affects every level of organization, from the local family to the whole planet. It encompasses all challenges facing us. It is something we must strive towards for the survival of humankind as we know it.

Self sufficiency is an important term to understand as well, for self sufficiency – the ability to provide for your own needs without depending on others – is an extremely important strategy to achieving sustainability. It is sobering to realize that self sufficiency and sustainable living are necessities of life for 80% of the world’s population. These people are considered by many westerners as being the poorest of people living on the planet. Does this mean we have to become poor as well? The simple answer is no. See our article “The Self-Sufficient Manager” on Earthhuddle.com

Sustainable Living, in summary, is a beautiful thought. It brings thoughts of community, happiness, independence, health, beauty, harmony, prosperity, and will give us all a bright future. Let’s all do our little bit to educate ourselves and understand the little things we can all do on our healthy quest for Sustainable Living.

If you are interested in learning more about sustainable living, consider joining www.EarthHuddle.com - a free online community focused on all areas of sustainable living, including sustainable housing, sustainable development, sustainable architecture and green living.

For more details, plus videos, articles, a discussion forum and a whole lot more, visit www.EarthHuddle.com