When you hear the phrase "save the environment," it sounds as if the environment has a problem, and we have to fix it. But over time I've realized that the first and most important step to living sustainably is to realize that the environment, in and of itself, doesn't need to be saved.

In Beyond Civilization, Daniel Quinn put it this way:

"When we talk about saving the world, what world are we talking about? ...not the biological world--the world of life...Even at our worst and most destructive, we would be unable to render this planet lifeless.

Saving the world also can't mean preserving the world as it is right now...Even if the entire human race vanished tomorrow, the world wouldn't stay the way it is today. We will never, under and circumstances, be able to stop change on this planet.

...Saving the world can only mean one thing: saving the world as a human habitat. Accomplishing this will mean (must mean) saving the world as a habitat for as many other species as possible..." (p. 6)

In other words, it's not the environment that has problems....we do. If we don't take care of the environment, then it, quite simply, won't take care of us.

I gained this insight through experience long before I read Beyond Civilization.

::TAKING CARE OF WHAT TAKES CARE OF YOU::

When I was in high school, I wanted to help the environment. But I hadn't yet made the connection that helping the environment was really about helping myself. I saw the environment as being "sick," and I wanted to help it "get better."

Then I did a research project in my senior year that changed my mind.

I was studying the effectiveness of "pingers," little sound-emitting devices that they put on nets in the Gulf of Maine to keep porpoises from getting caught and suffocated. They were supposed to make noise that would discourage porpoises from coming close. What I discovered in my research was that this "noise," in actuality, didn't even fall within their hearing range!

So, the fishermen were using completely ineffective devices, and porpoises were still getting caught and suffocating in nets for no good reason. What really ticked me off was that the fishermen themselves didn't seem to care. In fact, it seemed like they KNEW the pingers didn't work, but just wanted people to get off their backs and let them fish.

This was when I began to realize that it wasn't the environment that had problems--it was people. It struck me that I could keep helping the environment, but that it wouldn't stop people from polluting it. And I could try to stop people from being irresponsible, but that wouldn't stop them from NOT CARING.

I'm not proposing sainthood here. How about educated self-interest?

The fishermen in Maine and Canada, who caught fish in the nets and brought dead porpoises with them, didn't understand the basic concept that you have to take care of what takes care of you. They didn't look that far down the line. They didn't think twice that maybe, just maybe, the porpoises they unnecessarily killed played a crucial role in the same ecosystem that gives them fish to catch and sell.

So, it's not that the environment has problems. It's that if we don't treat it responsibly, we'll have problems of our own.

Last time I quoted Lao-Tsu. This time I'd like to make a little addendum to bring home my point:

"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime. Show him how to take care of the lake, and feed his children, and their children, and generations to come."

::A MAKEOVER FOR SUSTAINABLEWAYS.COM::

Last month I realized that the website was getting a bit cluttered and disorganized. My hunch was confirmed by some constructive criticism (which is ALWAYS welcomed), and so I decided to give SustainableWays.com a bit of a makeover.

Now, instead of being broken down by subject, the site is organized by content type (articles, books, and websites). Also, I've cut down on sidebars to keep the content streamlined.

Overall, I've aimed to make the website easier to navigate (and on my end, easier to update). My intention is for the site to grow in quality, not quantity.

And, I've added a new feature: The SustainableWays.com Crash Course on Sustainability, in the "Books" section of my site. Check it out!

By the way, many thanks to those of you who've been making your book purchases through the links on my site. To date, it's made back $15 in commissions. Your support really does help keep SustainableWays.com going!

Till next month,

-Krystle C.

Creator,
www.SustainableWays.com
The SENSIBLE Guide to Everything Sustainable

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