LET’S EACH ONE OF US TAKE ACCOUNTABILITY AND ACTION INDIVIDUALLY.
Introduction:
What does sustainability mean? Nowadays, it’s fashionable and chic to use this word. Everybody is talking about it! We read about it everywhere, we see it on Social media, and on our televisions. It’s a cliché topic these days. There was a time feminism was such a cliché topic. Now, it’s sustainability. But what does it mean with regard to our everyday lives? Simplified, it means that your environmental footprint has a huge impact with regards to sustainability.
At Go Eco Love, we consider sustainability to be an integral concept of living, a part of our daily lives. So let us explore some thoughts around it. First and foremost, sustainability is personal, which means it is different for each one of us. It’s a dynamic definition and we shouldn’t make the mistake of pinpointing and judging others about their interpretation of sustainability. We’re all different and we all make our contributions indifferent ways.
Basically, as citizens of this beautiful planet, we should all strive to look after the Environment, the Community, the World, our Mother Nature, and our Earth. By educating ourselves, we are better able to educate our children, their children and all future generations. There is an American Indian proverb we love at Go Eco Love. We think it’s beautiful and aptly captures important element of sustainability and children.
However, does it stop there? Looking at it from a holistic perspective, which is what we aim to do at Go Eco Love, sustainability is a rounded concept: it reflects the community from macro to micro organisms, from finance to the air we breathe. Yes it also means cows matter. It also means rats matter. It means Covid’s impact on everyone’s finance matters. Everything matters. It means that behavior and ethics matter as well.
The 3 Pillars of Sustainability
In general, there are three pillars of sustainability (Fig 1). These pillars are Social, Economic and the Ecosystem. Of great importance is the relationship between these three pillars. Each is pillar is vital, and indeed they are by necessity intertwined and impacting one another.
You might have heard the word conservationism used synonymously with sustainability. Conservationism can be broadly classed as a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to protect natural resources, animal and plant species, and their habitats for the future. Interestingly, a lot of people think that climate change and conservationism are the be all and end all to sustainability. Thus, these words are used interchangeably. Although the underlying principles are the same, these two, are in essence, different concepts. Therefore, greater care should be used when using these topics. The RSPB, UK, an organization, we support whole heartedly, has a fantastic page on conservationism and sustainability.
It is absolutely fantastic that we have these movements and concepts. Nevertheless, the ultimate responsibility lies with you. At Go Eco Love, we sell handmade products, especially jute bags, herbal cosmetics and cards made by charitable organizations. This way we are utilizing the basic principles of sustainability and revitalizing the community financially. Our company model tackles the 3 pillars of sustainability. We also ensure we have a holistic perspective on sustainability.
We significantly involve ourselves in education and awareness and work with children and young adults so that future generations are nurtured. The purpose of our eco products is to reduce the pollution by reusing all the containers in which the products come in.
However, sustainability does not stop or begin with us. It requires help from all of you. Each one of us can start with simple things like gardening, planting, using water and electricity carefully, making home improvements and buying less. The R concepts of recycling, repurposing, reducing, reusing, up cycling are fundamental to being sustainable.
Robert Swan is a British polar explorer, environmental leader and public speaker. His quote aptly captures what we should all be doing in a nutshell: the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.
Let’s each one of us take accountability and action individually.
At Go Eco Love we work with charities. We also put in effect sustainability mechanisms into our social entrepreneurship model.
Watch the space, we are going to be putting out a magazine soon discussing some important topics and providing tips and help!!!!