| (This article was submitted for
the Mayne Island Conservancy's Tread Lightly booklet) Sustainable Living the practice of connectivity. Quantum Physics, Biology and Spirituality all show how all species and beings are interwoven with the planet in a supportive web, the very basis of life. Humans are learning how nature has prospered for millions of years with processes that are cyclical, waste free and powered by the sun. Pollution and resource depletion are quite the opposite and degrade the planet and all the biosphere’s inhabitants. At present we have the knowledge and still enough natural wealth to modify our take-make-waste methods and in the process promote democracy and health. The alternative makes our collective futures finite. Being Islanders it is easy to see the limits of land, water, energy, human, marine and biological resources available which can motivate us to be efficient and egalitarian. The imperative of cooperation with neighbours is clear, be they wild, human, governmental or global. Practical choices: 1)Design and purchase Green Buildings to reduce pollution and create social wealth. 60% of our home heating can come from passive solar design; modern appliances can easily conserve half the water and power we now use. 2)Buy hybrid cars or use smaller electric ones that can run on $300 per year of energy consumables. Be ready to support wind/wave/hydro/biomass/solar powered hydrogen for transport as it becomes available. 3)Buy local, organic, farm produce for tasty, biocide-free nourishment with a minimum of transportation related health and fossil fuel consequences. This choice sustains local economies and replenishes our exhausted top soil bank account. 4)Teach our children about sustainable economies and bio-mimicry for their own longevity, 5)Participate in citizens’ activism on perpetual culture topics. This produces an informed public and guides governments into a chosen rather than detrimental future. Our children will have a place to thrive and will look back on this generation as having made the change in time. by Peter Judd, Islands Sustainability Initiative (ISUNI), Mayne Island, BC, Canada |