Mission. Purpose. A purpose-driven life. It seems we’re hearing these phrases more frequently these days, and that’s a great thing.\u00a0Having a mission helps guide our daily lives so that, ideally, we are only taking actions that align with our personal mission. I’d like to challenge us all to have\u00a0the mission of taking on three new practices that enhanced the sustainability of our planet this year. What difference would that make for Mother Earth? I’d bet a pretty big one.<\/p>\n
But first, if we are to take on new sustainability\u00a0practices, we need\u00a0a definition of sustainability. One definition from Merriam-Webster\u00a0that resonates with me is: “of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged.” This is one of the conundrums of living in\u00a0a sustainable way: We all use the planet’s resources every day\u2014we drink water, use power, eat, and utilize the land in some sense\u2014but are we leaving them better than they were before?<\/p>\n
That is the name of the sustainability game, but one that we often overlook. We all use paper at some level, but are we planting trees? We all drink water every day, but how are we ensuring\u00a0that our water sources remain potable? We all use power every day, but do we know and trust the\u00a0source of that power?<\/p>\n
This is one of the conundrums of living in\u00a0a sustainable way: We all use the planet’s resources every day\u2014we drink water, use power, eat, and utilize the land in some sense\u2014but are we leaving them better than they were before?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
None of us is\u00a0perfect. I don’t own a car, and\u00a0I do drive a car when I am on vacation and when I need to travel for work to clients who\u00a0are far away. I use paper every day and I cannot say that I have planted enough trees to replace the paper that I have used in my lifetime. Being perfect is not the aim; the goal is to start becoming aware of the ways we are using our planet’s resources and to be aware of how we can restore those\u00a0resources.<\/p>\n
There are many ways to contribute resources back to the planet. A few examples are buying our power from companies that use wind and solar power, or donating to organization like Million Trees<\/a>, who are committed to planting one million trees in NYC. We can give our time to Farm Animal Sanctuaries<\/a>, an organization that\u00a0provides a safe place\u00a0for animals who have been abused or were set to be slaughtered. There are many additional ways that we can take actions to build a more sustainable planet.<\/p>\n
Which three actions will you take on to preserve and enhance our natural resources for the next 365 days?<\/p>\n
Photo by Flickr user Intel Free Press<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
Michael Forman is a native of Bronx, New York, and has lived in New York City for almost his entire life. He\u00a0is the executive farm director of\u00a0Pure Love Organic Farms<\/a>, an organic, urban farm that\u00a0he and three other friends created in 2012 from a former garbage dump site. Michael also works as the North American account manager for\u00a0Totally Green<\/a>\u00a0in the sustainable technologies field.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When we think sustainability, we don’t always think about the full definition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":639,"featured_media":27571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1055],"tags":[130],"class_list":["post-25708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nourish","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
The Key Aspect of Sustainability We Often Overlook<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When we think sustainability, we don't always think about the full definition\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wanderlust.com\/journal\/key-aspect-sustainability-often-overlook\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When we think sustainability, we don't always think about the full definition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wanderlust.com\/journal\/key-aspect-sustainability-often-overlook\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wanderlust\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/wanderlust\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-11T21:30:36+00:00\" 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