Your Sustainability Efforts Will Pay Off, Suddenly
Even if it seems like nothing is happening for now
A message for people who care about sustainability and the environment: you might be discouraged by the slow progress of countries and people toward sustainable development. Over recent decades, the problems have been clear and yet the solutions have stalled.
We recycle and buy package-free. We carry our own reusable bags and mugs to the store. We scour the internet for the most sustainably produced couch or dental floss, knowing that we are only one customer and the ‘other’ couches and dental flosses are doing a roaring trade without us. We sign petitions and advocate for new processes in the face of inertia and resistance. Is any of this even working?
It is. But we can’t see it yet.
Widespread change tends to be sudden
The change we are trying to make is widespread and distributed. In the future, stores in every town across the world, factories in every country, people sitting at their kitchen counters in their homes will need to behave a little differently in the future. The whole economy needs to change.
That makes it sound difficult, but changes of this scale have happened over and over in the past, and they tend to be…
