The Exuberant Joy of the Sustainable Imagination

Sustainability conversations really are grim, aren’t they? “Recycling doesn’t work”; “There will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050”; “Microplastics found in cave where humans haven’t been…”. We hear an awful lot about how mindsets need to change in order for sustainability to work— but usually this is in reference to how we solve problems, or how we do business. And, while these points are certainly true and valid, what we don’t talk about enough is the mindset shift that really needs to change— the doomsday speak and mentality: eco-miserabilism.

How often have you attended a very well-meaning sustainability conference talk, only to leave feeling more stressed, overwhelmed and frozen in place than when you walked in?

The simple explanation for this is the power of negativity. Looking at this from a larger, historical context, we can look at leadership styles— or ways that humans have influenced large-scale behavioural change. In basic terms, this means one of two methods: Fear and Threats or Love and Empathy. Both are effective, but with very different strengths.

Fear and threats, or the negative type of leadership and enforcement, is very effective— in the short term. As a method, it can create a burst of energy, awareness, and incredibly strong, sticky talking points. For negativity to work efficiently, it means creating a world without nuance— problems are black and white and therefore very easy to speak to. Negativity is endlessly repeatable and spreadable. No wonder doomsday speak is often used as a tool to try and create both awareness and action for sustainability— and why it’s so hard to overcome once it’s stuck in and oppressive. Because, what negativity is NOT good for is creating motivation and actual action. Negativity isn’t inspiring, nor is it sustainable.

Love and empathy, or positive messaging does create long term, sustained action and motivation. Love is probably the most inspiring force on the planet— hence why there are so many songs, poems and art about it. And, it doesn’t mean that using positive messaging means ignoring the bad things that are happening— it just means seeing the consequences as opportunities instead of limitations— which isn’t always as easy as black and white.

It’s perhaps easier to see, though, why ‘short-termism’ and doomsday speak are so widespread, and why they’re so antithetical to sustainable action and mindset. So, how do we break this pattern we so easily participate in and are depressed by?

Here’s the good news: solutions already exist! But, you’ve probably been so inundated with the negative speak, that you didn’t realise it. Innovation is all around us! Hooray!

Many solutions have actually been around as long as civilisation, but hard to see without the critical mindset shift. Remember in school, when you were taught about the “Three R’s?” Reduce, Reuse and Recycle? And how we have forgotten about the first two altogether, only focusing on recycling the last several decades? Both ‘reduce’ and ‘reuse’ can feel much more abstract than ‘recycle,’ making it difficult to assign specific actions to them. But I’d bet that many of you already do a good amount of reducing and reusing without even being conscious of it.

Do you have a library card?

Libraries have been cornerstones of civilisation and local communities for eons. And, yet, often overlooked as innovative symbols of sustainability. Think about the very concept of libraries: a central location of information and books that you can borrow and bring back— an exceptional alternative to buying books, spending money and taking up space in your life; as well as the democratised access to history and information that has existed since way before the internet and uses less power.

You mean there is a way to actively consume (in this case, knowledge) without creating waste, while reusing the same thing over and over, requiring fewer to be produced in the first place?

Libraries were the archetype for modern brands like Zipcar, Rent the Runway and other borrowing schemes. The subscription model may be relatively new for all of us in our lives and in the app space, but historically, this is how most people have consumed… stuff. The idea that we all need to individually own and house things is actually a relatively new and decidedly capitalistic ideal. Thankfully, progressive return and reuse policies are also being passed globally to counteract this ideal, as we all figure out how to solve for our sustainable future.

While reuse is an effective, sustainable tool, it’s not necessarily a solution for everything. As we have understood over time— there is no single solution for sustainability. Most importantly, ‘what is sustainable’ has an evolving definition. Therefore innovations across many industries and facets of how we take, make and waste things is crucial.

‘Single-use’ as a concept, isn’t always negative.

For times when reusing or washing aren’t available or practical, or when sterility and avoiding contamination are paramount, single-use materials can be incredibly positive. However, when single-use is associated with things like petroleum-based plastics, it is negative, for the fundamental reason that a very durable material like plastic is being used for an intensely tiny fraction of its lifespan, creating problematic waste. But, when you can match a material’s lifespan with its use-case, single-use can remain beneficial.

The myriad companies investing in and developing degradable bio-based plastic materials are one such (very large) example. Bio-based plastics that can biodegrade and/or compost are a great way to address the functional need for plastic, while reducing the toxic waste as a result. Where we collectively can take advantage of the earth’s natural biological metabolism, we can remove the idea of waste, while keeping the safety and convenience of single-use. Perhaps you’ve seen things like biodegradable cutlery or compostable flexible packaging on shelves.

Another way to address the mismatch of use-case and material is downstream. Typically we’ve used mechanical recycling as a way to do this. But, innovations in advanced recycling types are starting to show promising results. Like Protein Evolution, who have developed a way to break down polymers (plastics) with natural enzymes. This process is important because it does not require harsh chemicals and other caustic processes. Another downstream solution that also plays into convenience, is “reverse vending machines”— or, machines that accept recyclable materials that can be on premise or otherwise out in public, that can also sort materials on-demand.

All of these solutions exist and are amazing on their own. But, what is really required is broader efforts to connect these dots and more across industries — that is where imagination and design comes in. When we use this superpower — our imagination — and shift our mindsets from eco-miserablism to eco-joy, we see the world differently. Suddenly solutions are all around us, and hope comes back. We see how living in harmony with the planet is possible, and examples and templates are here for us to build our futures on. We don’t need to ignore what’s wrong, but rather, embrace it as an opportunity and don’t let the present limit our imaginations.