Search for true sustainability
I am a digital nomad for REWE digital, this week working from Medewi (Bali).
A couple of weeks* have passed since my last article. I enjoyed the holidays and took some left-over vacation.
Yes, vacation. Since I am a normal employee, my contract entitles me to vacation like any other employee. Furthermore, my employer encourages us to take some days off. Use the time to regenerate, get some distance, and reflect. This results in a more sustainable way of working. It was while reflecting and seeing new Zealand and Indonesia, I got the idea of this stories’ topic.
In general, we associate “sustainability” with the impact of mankind on our planet’s biosphere, the environment.
Traveling the corners of the world, my family and I have encountered this impact everywhere. We have seen the Black Sea and its coasts covered in plastic. The streams of New Zealand dried out and polluted. The amounts of waste and air pollution in southeast Asia which are escalating to be a serious health threat. In fact, all the locals we talk to, tell us the weather has changed and is different than it used to be. To us, a more sustainable global society is a necessity.
Yet, sustainability seems to be everywhere. We read about sustainable tourism and sustainable clothing. We are offered sustainable delicacies and sustainable water. And of course, we should read the 10 best books on sustainability.
Recent studies show, that the word “sustainable” is being overemphasized. More&more people are growing an aversion against it. I find this ironic. The one-word describing “completeness”, “continuity” and “durability”, is being depleted by marketers, companies, and retailers to gain a so-called advantage over competitors.
Another recent phenomenon is workplace sustainability. In this context, sustainability is associated with hip-startups and tech-companies. It is becoming a synonym for being a more environmentally aware company/employer. It exceeds the classic idea of a “work-life-balance” from its original context i.e. “the time-continuum”. Advancing it into a more global environmental setting: “time and earth matter”.
Despite this new direction of work and the possibilities it creates, a lot of people I know are still working beyond their capabilities. Borrowing energy, power, and resources of their future selves. Eventually (if not counter-reacted upon) resulting in heavy exhaustion (the “burn-out”) and depression. Once arrived in this state, long term illness is inevitable and recovery weary. Today, this situation is already causing tremendous healthcare costs.
Besides the personal and financial harm this is causing, the underlying process (a vicious cycle) is at the root of our environmental problems as well. If I am aware of and content with myself and my place in this world, I can take responsibility for me and the environment I live in! If I lose self-awareness instead, I will reset my priorities to more (apparent) urgent matters of the ego. This will reduce my actions towards the (subjective) less urgent issues of the world/environment.
The pursuit of personal gain is a normal phenomenon in us and I do not condemn it. To me, it is evident though, that if we were a bit more caring towards ourselves and were to acknowledge our own restrictions, sustainability will, by itself, be attained. It would no longer have to be an unsuccessful pursuit sold by someone else.
In that case, the marketers would of course lose a selling item and the so-called sustainable employers had to offer real individual employee possibilities instead of meaningless words. But, as a result, our world could stay the beautiful place it is.
sampai jumpa lagi (see you soon),
Rutger
*: thanks to the covid19-crisis, this article is published a lot later than I hoped for, sorry about that.