Exactly What is the Sustainable Living Movement?

If there is a concrete beginning to the modern sustainable living movement it is the publishing of The Good Life in 1954. This is an accounting of Helen and Scott Nearing's sixty years of self sufficient living. While this book outlines the lifestyle sought after by the "homesteader's" of the movement, it also serves as an ideological mechanism for those who wish to take part in reducing their environmental "footprint" within the confines of more traditional Western modern day society. This reduction includes "trade-offs", though many within the movement would describe these "trade-offs" as "trade-ups" that lead to sustainable living and enhance the quality of life both by decreasing environmental degradation and entropy.

The current resurgence in sustainable living involvement can be partly attributed to writers and scientists such as Lester Brown and Paul Ehrlich as well as global climate change. Lester Brown is an agricultural scientist and leading thinker in both the overall sustainability movement and the more focused sustainable living movement. His first major work Man Land and Food published in 1963 begins his vast amount of work on how man can have an environmentally sustainable economy. He established the Earth Policy Institute in May 2001. His most recent work Plan B 3.0 Mobilizing to Save Civilization outlines the un-sustainability of current society and a plan to make it sustainable. This plan includes, among other suggestions that the U.S. population adjust its' grain consumption levels per capita to the levels of Italy's population which consumes half the amount of grain, yet displays better nutrition and higher life expectancy's. Paul Ehrlich (current president of the University of Stanford's Center for Conservation Biology) developed the IPAT equation or Impact= population× affluence or consumption per capita× technology per capita. This and similar equations have increased the focus on decreased consumption within the sustainable living movement and serves as broad quantifiable goals.

The institutions and philosophies such as those set forth by Brown, Ehrlich, and the Nearing's have been important in spreading the word about sustainable living. Having said this, it does not imply that they were the motivators of all the current actors in the movement. Some members of the movement focus on promoting sustainable living throughout the world as does Brown. Others are focused exclusively on their own or their own communities' practices.

Sustainable living is manifested in many different ways, from the house one lives in and the food he or she eats, to the level of cooperation with fellow space inhabitants (both human and non-human). All agents in the movement share the belief that life on Earth is not sustainable if business is conducted as usual. Some proponents of sustainable living, such as homesteaders, are often motivated as much by self sufficiency or self reliant labor as there are by eliminating human environmental degradation. This is often accompanied by a more pessimistic view of technology than non-homesteader agents of the movement. Perhaps the goal and lifestyle of a homesteader is best summed up by a quote from attributed to the writings of Scott Nearing from 1965:

"The good life is never stable, never secure, never easy and never ended. It is a series of steps or stages, one leading into the other and all, in their outcome, adding, not subtracting; augmenting, not diminishing; building, not destroying; creating, not annihilating."

Sustainable living organizations range from local farmers markets, eco-villages, non-profits and loosely based homesteader clubs, to world-wide organizations such as the Earth Policy Institute, World Resource Institute, and the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives. It is agreed by all agents that reducing one's environmental footprint and contribution to environmental degradation means adjusting one's lifestyle. The overall purpose of the sustainable living movement is in line with that of the broader movement of sustainability. Andres Edwards , founder of EduTracks (specializes in sustainable building and education) defines the sustainability movement as:

"The Sustainability Revolution presents an alternative [to the Industrial Revolution] that supports economic viability and healthy ecosystems by modifying consumption patterns and implementing a more equitable social framework."

The "3 E's", which are generally accepted across all sustainability movements, including homesteaders are used as guides to promote sustainable living. These are Ecology (Environment), Economy (Employment), and Equity (Equality). The sustainable living movement is focuses Ecology of how we live as humans. Specific "footprint" reduction goals of the movement include the reduction of: carbon and other "greenhouse" gas emissions, water consumption, grain consumption, and waste that goes to landfills. There have been numerous scales developed to measure these reductions. Equally important to environmental goals is the goal of increased quality of life and independence through sustainable living. My thinking is a little independence can go a long way.

Edwards, A. R. (2005). The Sustainability Revolution: portrait of a paradigm shift. Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers.