🌱 sustainability through diversity

We talk about sustainability as though it’s all-or-nothing. Paper bags kill trees. Plastic kills fish. Everything should be made out of bamboo. You should send your gas-guzzling car to the landfill right away and purchase an electric one.

It’s not that any of these statements are necessarily wrong, nor is it that drastic measures aren’t necessary. But, as the saying goes, everything in moderation. 100 companies are responsible for 70% of greenhouse gas emissions. They must all move away from gas, yes. But if they all switch to lithium battery systems, will they suddenly be responsible for 70% of lithium mining? Will we find ourselves depleting lithium sources, contributing to unhealthy water and working conditions around the world? The only way for batteries to be sustainable is if they’re not all made up of the exact same material¹. In fact, the only way for energy to be sustainable is if not everyone is using batteries. The same goes for your favorite renewable energy. We need some people to use wind, some to use solar, some to use geothermal, etc etc.

This means two things:

1. We can’t all be sustainable in the same way.
2. Economies of scale must be rethought in a sustainable global economy.

While the first point is a mental hurdle best overcome through conversation, the second point is a logistical challenge. Once upon a time, you could purchase clothes made within a 1000 miles from you. While it’s technically possible to go back to that world, it (ironically) wasn’t a sustainable state. We are all drawn to what’s cheap and convenient. What is cheaper than clothes made in the US? Labor in other countries. What is more convenient than mending my older sister’s clothes to fit me? That shirt I saw on Instagram with free 2-day shipping.

Industries will always move to what makes them more money. This results in many industries consolidating into a handful of mega-corporations that use economies of scale and low margins to bring us cheap prices. Then they fuel fad-based consumer spending cycles to keep the whole system afloat. While atoms tend towards entropy, business tends towards monopoly. So how would you reshape our economy to make sustainability sustainable?

Info:

• Related to:
  • Tim Ferriss’s excellent interview with Tony Fadell
  • 🌰 big businesses need to compete to survive, small companies hit profitability sooner and easier
  • [[🌰 authenticity in business is a trap]]
  • 🗨️ As trickle-down economics lost its credibility, a new prop was needed to sustain the neoliberal regime politically. It came in the form of neofascism.

1. Not to mention they need to be made of recyclable materials ↩

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Every post on this blog is a work in progress. Phrasing may be less than ideal, ideas may not yet be fully thought through. Thank you for watching me grow.