When talking about sustainability it is easy to become overwhelmed. It is about the economy. It is about the environment. It is about society. In short, it's about people and their relationships with each other, the planet, and future generations. I can't think of any subject matter that cannot be analyzed through the sustainability lens and, in fact, my bias is that all subjects should be. However in saying that sustainability is about everything, many people argue that it quickly becomes a buzzword that really means nothing. It is too big as a concept to wrap one's head around. There are so many complexities and inter linkages the brains of the more simple-minded short-circuit quickly when trying to apply the principles and ethics of sustainability to their daily lives. So how can we make this complex (yet fundamentally simple) concept more accessible? Some examples can be found via the World Habitat Awards.
What got me interested in the awards was the recent winner, Plaza Apartments in San Francisco. This project embodies sustainability in my mind. It provides shelter for the chronically homeless, helping to further social sustainability. It revitalizes an older building and neighborhood, increasing investment and furthering the development of jobs and economic growth, furthering economic sustainability. And it uses green building technologies, recycling an old building and installing new water and energy and other conservation measures.
I do not think human beings can be sustainable as a society if they do not take care of those in need. All of the homeless, sick, and desperate people of the world cannot be ignored. None of the other advances in sustainability can last if this fundamental problem of poverty and need is not taken care of. Desperation of masses make society inherently unstable and therefore unsustainable. So we need to take care of people. The trick is to not make this a trade-off but to do so in a way that furthers the other goals of economic and environmental performance. Plaza Apartments does a good job of doing all of this and I hope this model of helping people can be adopted worldwide.
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