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Many people and groups have their own definition of sustainability. My personal favorite comes from the Natural Step framework, which provides four conditions that must be met to be sustainable. It was developed by a group of scientists in the 80's and 90's and is used as an end goal - it allows groups to envision what they would look like if they were fully sustainable and then develop steps to move in that direction.

I recommend that anyone curious about how to define sustainability learn a little more about the Natural Step framework. A good starting point is naturalstep.org/the-system-conditions.

posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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There are a lot of products out there that are genuinely a more sustainable alternative to conventional products, but with this increase in product availability and marketing, comes a new "green consumerism." Marketers are making people forget about how reducing and reusing are very important methods of being sustainable. For example, it is not sustainable to buy a bunch of organic clothing if you already have perfectly useable clothes or to install new bamboo or cork floors when your home has a functional floor.

posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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I live in Corvallis and work for the recycling program at Oregon State University, coordinating education and outreach. Recycling is a learned, social behavior. Given the current state of the recycling market, I think it is very important that people do not get out of the habit of recycling. If your recycling provider stops accepting a material, I recommend holding on to it. You can recycle it when the market picks up again and it will keep you in the habit (Plus it will likely be very mind-opening to see how much you collect!).

It is also very important to put more emphasis on the other two "R's" - reduce and reuse. We need to reduce our waste stream entirely, both what is bound for the landfill and your local recycling depo. When you do need to buy something new, BUY RECYCLED. We need to support those markets.

posted 4 years, 5 months ago
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