Sustainability Part 5 - My personal views and Response

TLDR:
- I’m a believer in effecting change at the system level and not the incremental.
- I elucidate on how I have made sense of the issue, my own reactions and the challenges ahead.
- These include buying stuff that lasts, and working in a field that intersects good business while doing good for the planet.

Unlike the other posts which were more argumentative in nature, this post will be an amalgamation of thoughts and contemplations on how to progress sustainable development.

Actions I have taken

First, to buy long-lifespan goods. In short: treating your purchases as assets and not as an expense is one pathway to sustainability. Some of the things I have bought include:

Zojirushi water heater - long lasting, great performance, particularly during the winter when I was in the UK. Generally more efficient than a kettle, due to heat retention and its capacity.
Nail clippers from Jatai (Seki Edge) - by far the most robust nail clippers
Klean Kanteen(s) - good quality, I can see these lasting for a lifetime. The downside? (fault is completely mine) I have lost/misplaced two bottles…
Quality bags - Timbuktu (work use), Alpine Lowe (travel), Aer tech (bought second hand, daily use).

I continue to use all of these after many years. (except for the first…not really relevant in Singapore)

Second, to professionally align myself to teams and businesses that can do good for the world, while doing good business. After all, if we spend so much time working, it is best to invest our energy into something that can make a material difference. At the moment, I now work for a water technology startup that is chemical-free and cost effective. I truly believe in the mission, though the business aspects remain a tough challenge that I am still figuring out.

Third, to attempt to be a part of the sustainable community. Though that said - my past dabbling in sustainability communities and beach clean-ups, has left me with mixed views.

On the former - I notice a prevalence in greenwashing and echo chamber-esque behavior. It pains me to say so, but one community I came across comprised individuals who were strong believers in sustainability….as well as being strong believers in alternative medicine and even UFO conspiracies. It left me with a bitter taste on the ability of communities to effect change.
I suspect that this, just like the political divisions, speak to the narrative that people want to believe in. There is an allure of being a “rebel” fighting back against a system, and finding like-minded people to do so. Good intentions can be fallible.

My wish list for Systemic change

Governments should price in externalities things out, whilst simultaneously introducing a low cost sustainable substitute. This however needs to be introduced at a reasonable pace, due to intrinsic trade-offs (See below)
Adopting a political system inclined to the long term. In this sense, benevolent dictatorships (e.g. Singapore), single-party command (e.g. China) are in a better position to effect change compared to Western democratic systems. I am not surprised that progress has been slow in the USA particularly for the type of policies required to effect long lasting sustainability benefits. Compare this against renewable adoption in China. How can one possibly move fast if political machinations and popular pandering is needed every 4 years?
Carbon intensive industries such as Meat and Air travel ought to be priced at a premium. I find it hard to believe that budget travel and “industrial” meat can be “mass-consumed” within the planetary limits.
A condemnation of anything designed for disposal. Fast fashion and designed redundancy in products are not great. More broadly, “fast” anything is bad.
Investment into the Reduce and Reuse, rather than the Recycle. If anything, Recycling is wishful thinking - and frankly, an excuse - to maintain already unsustainable consumption rates. Yet a huge amount of investment and interest has gone into recycling.

Underpinning this - the planetary sustainability requires collective action. Before this, social and economic inequality must be solved. I am skeptical that the “rich” alone can solve the issues of the entire planet. I will discuss my take on structural inequality in a future post. [Note to self - link here]

Mitigation vs Adaptation

With all being said and done over this series of 5 posts, the cynic in me also believes that the time has passed for mitigation. Already, positive feedback-loops in the warming of the world will inevitability lead to greater climate disaster and stressors. It may well be the time to invest resources into adaptation.

The Trade-offs to be expected

Being more green in some areas will require sacrifices. I view progress in sustainability as a massive optimisation problem - but it remains unclear to me what is the parameter we are optimising. Is it carbon?

Or, on a more nuanced note - is it the balance between an economy that works for all; a planet with a capacity to regenerate; political capital; a happy/ content society (which likes meat and designer handbags)?

As discussed in my last post, I am a believer in Reduce, in the place of reuse or recycling. Taking the economic perspective, I am cognisant that the modern economy is - inherently - driven by consumption. We need to buy and sell goods to ensure that people are gainfully employed. This is a critical point, as the modern economy plays a massive role in enabling or disabling sustainable development. That de-growth is inherently at odds with the capitalistic growth story and is very well documented. The anger at the “capitalist” system is not entirely misplaced.

So I question:

Is a reduction in the exchange of goods and value directly contradictory with my philosophy which focuses on reduced consumption?
What will drive innovation, growth and improvement?
What will create jobs if everyone consumes less?

Currently, I have a relatively low spend on material goods, and have gotten considerable savings in the bank. (average spending of 500 SGD a month in my current state, excluding housing/bills). But my lack of consumption and high-savings is an economist’s worst nightmare!

As a result, there are certainly trade offs - be it quality of life, or a lack of economic particiaption if every stopped spending and started to produce and consume as humans did back in stone age. With this in mind, I conclude my thoughts on sustainability and segue into my next series of posts on the economy. Til then.

Parting Word s (Shot?)

But first - a final thought.

In a nutshell, Sustainability is a complex, sophisticated and holistic topic. Before passing judgment or believing that one could be an “expert” in Sustainability - I summarise my own thoughts on developing a nuanced view as below:

Before professing expertise in Sustainability one must understand the Economy; To understand the Economy, one must understand its challenges, including economic inequality; To understand inequality, one must understand Politics and human nature.