A Take on Sustainability
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Trusted Clothes (Unpublished)
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2016
Truths bear repetition. It’s the lifeblood of culture change. Truths need legs. I wanted to express more thoughts on why sustainability is important to me. Sustainability is important to me on one level (at least). It’s the international community. It agrees on its importance. Individuals can differ. Some corporations can differ. Even some sustainability groups can differ on ethical nuances like the use of animal products, and which ones, and produced by what means, all decent considerations. I’m kind of democratic in that sense. All views matter, but not all views are by necessity valid. (True!) It’s one big family trying to decide on dinner, and the timer is running out – like climate change or sustainability of consumption patterns.
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations called 2009 the year of the natural fibre. I use that resource and continue to use that resource for professional work on sustainable fibres and natural fibres. Sustainable fibres link up with the textile industries and ethical fashion. I consider ethical fashion and sustainable fashion connected to sustainability and important as well. I like the idea of sustainability. I find the people involved in this endeavor interesting. I like their stories and narratives. It is a really interesting, rich, and committed community of intellectuals and citizens. All throughout the world invested in one goal: sustainability.
I consider sustainability a straight engineering problem. But I also consider sustainability a crucial aspect of the 21st-century in daily life. We have billions of people on the earth. We have many medical and societal reasons to thank for that fact. That means sustainability on the individual level deals with people. People like myself. People like yourself. Sustainability as an international goal is something that brings it down to the individual level for everyone, including me. I think about fashion. I think about laundry. I think about lights. I think about cars and buses and transportation in general. I think about the consumption patterns for food.
I think about supply chains. I think about the production lines and modes. All of this matters to me. All of this matters because the nature of sustainability impacts every area of human endeavor because every area of human endeavor has waste associated with it. The question then becomes, “Do we want a sustainable future or not?” I think we do. At some level or another, even those that are most against it for monetary and economic reasons, or reasons of ease, they want the same. It’s a bit like a holdout situation, where everyone knows we need to alter at least a little bit in the end.
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