Beyond sustainability

I once was in partnership with a wonderful, educated, progressive human who recycled, used public transit, practiced yoga, ate a healthy diet, and, in all ways I could see, had an environmentally sustainable lifestyle. After being together for some months, I asked him, "What does sustainability mean to you?" His response shocked me. 

He said sustainability meant the ability to make enough money to live his life with financial security, to buy a house, travel the world, and retire early. It had never occurred to him that it was associated with the environment and certainly not with the practices he had adopted in his own lifestyle. Of course, once explained and discussed, he understood the concept, but said, “Why do you use the word sustainability for that? It is so confusing.”

It really made me start questioning the language we use and the bubbles we operate in. I thought everyone knew what sustainability meant, at least the version of the concept that I had dedicated much of my life to. Yet, even this amazing person jumped immediately to the version that really is all about maintaining the status quo — a system premised on profit and financial security, not planetary health and well-being.

Okay, so what is sustainability?

“Sustainability" is a concept that's been at the forefront of environmental discussions for decades. But what does it really mean? 

By definition, it means "the ability to sustain." The question everyone should ask themselves is, sustain what? 

For many, like my former partner, it means financial sustainability, or the ability to sustain one's individual wealth or a firm’s profit. Most people I encounter outside the bubble of impact work immediately jump to this conclusion. 

For others, it means ecological sustainability, or the ability to sustain life in different ecosystems. This is a fundamental necessity for life on this planet and includes climate systems, air, water, land, soil, and biodiversity, as well as ecosystem functions.

For some, it means economic sustainability, or the ability to sustain our current growth-centered economic system. 

For me, it means systemic sustainability, or the ability to sustain ecological, economic, and social systems that benefit all life equitably across generations. The key is understanding which system we are sustaining.

Understanding sustainability deeper

Since the 1972 publication of Donella Meadows’ Limits to Growth, we’ve known that unchecked economic growth on a finite planet is untenable, even as our societies have been built to depend on it.

Yet, in practice, sustainability often gets entangled with — or collapses into — economic or financial sustainability, frequently at the expense of environmental and social well-being. This creates a tension: can we truly sustain our planet and communities while also sustaining a system inherently driven by exploitation and inequity?

This has led to a dilution of the term, with some — but not all — corporate sustainability efforts amounting to little more than greenwashing. True sustainability requires a radical rethinking of how we value and interact with the natural world and each other, aiming for a balance that supports all life on Earth.

We have concepts that address this. Sustainable business and sustainable finance are approaches that actively incorporate ecological sustainability criteria into business operations and financial decision-making. These aim to ensure that business practices and investments not only yield economic returns but also contribute positively to the environment and society. But for many, the difference between financial sustainability vs. sustainable finance is awfully confusing, isn't it?

Plus, these types of entities remain a small niche within the overall private sector. Very few businesses or financial institutions that have sustainability departments, plans, and Chief Sustainability Officers can be said to be sustainable businesses or work in sustainable finance. Most still operate with a business-as-usual mindset.

The regenerative mindset

I recognize the importance of sustainability as a framework to reduce harm in the system we are born into, but ultimately as a stepping stone towards creating a new regenerative system. This is not about demonizing sustainability or those who strive to achieve its more noble goals; it's about acknowledging its limitations within our current global system and striving for more.

It could be said that the new North Star is Regenerative Sustainability, or the ability to sustain regenerative systems that not only prevent harm but actively heal and enrich our environment, society, and economy. It harkened back to Meadow's original vision of sustainability but with a forward thrust, ensuring that actions today contribute to a future where life in all its forms can thrive.

Why go beyond?

To understand why we need to go beyond sustainability, consider this analogy: envision a garden.

In an unsustainable garden, practices are shortsighted. Resources are used without regard for the future, leading to soil depletion, water scarcity, and loss of biodiversity. Invasive and inappropriate species are planted for convenience or aesthetics and require massive amounts of external inputs like synthetic fertilizer and pesticides to grow and maintain year-after-year. Such a garden may offer short-term yields but at a cost to its long-term viability, mirroring the extractive and exploitative practices of our current economic system.

In a sustainable garden, we aim to use resources more efficiently. We introduce composting to enrich the soil, reduce water use through drip irrigation, and plant a few native species that require fewer external inputs. This garden is maintained so it can continue producing year after year, but it operates within the limits of its existing system, sustaining its current state without necessarily improving it.

Now, envision a regenerative garden. This garden is designed with the future in mind. It's not just about sustaining but enhancing: enriching the soil beyond its original condition, creating habitats that attract and sustain more wildlife, and implementing water collection systems that benefit the entire area. This garden becomes a hub of biodiversity and resilience, improving not only its own productivity but also contributing positively to the surrounding environment. It's a living example of how regenerative practices can transform a space, making it more vibrant, diverse, and life-sustaining than it was before.

Which garden would you want to see the world become?

A regenerative garden symbolizes what we at RegenIntel envision for our world: a transformation from sustainability to a regenerative and thriving planet. It's about moving beyond reducing harm or limiting our negative impact to actively improving the health and vitality of our planet and all life.

Unpacking the Analogy: In an unsustainable garden, reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides mirrors our society's dependence on subsidies and capital investments in extractive industries like fossil fuels. Just as these chemicals can deplete the soil's natural health over time, these industries erode the planet's resources, such as water, air, biodiversity, and human potential. The garden's yield, akin to GDP or wealth creation, may appear prosperous, but it belies underlying environmental and social costs and risks to our economic system itself.

By continually dumping "fertilizer and pesticides" to sustain the garden's yield mirrors our ever-increasing investment in unsustainable practices to drive economic growth. Just as this approach can ultimately destroy the soil, making it increasingly difficult and expensive to recover, our current trajectory makes it costlier to address the impacts of climate change. The depleted soil represents not just the loss of natural resources but also the erosion of our planet's capacity to support life, necessitating ever-greater expenditures to mitigate disasters and restore ecosystems.

The unsustainable garden, then, is not just an environmental hazard; it's a metaphor for a global system teetering on the brink. The continuous push for yield at all costs, mirroring our pursuit of endless economic growth, poses significant risks that are typically not being accounted for. As the climate crisis intensifies, the vulnerabilities of this system are becoming starkly apparent, with recovery becoming an increasingly Herculean task.

While a sustainable garden is more resource-efficient, it still requires external inputs to maintain productivity and often continues to rely on invasive species and cash crops that may not align with the local ecosystem. This approach is similar to attempting to maintain financial health and profitability within our current economic system, emphasizing efficiency and reduced harm without fundamentally altering the underlying exploitative structure of local communities. It's akin to using band-aids on systemic wounds — addressing symptoms without curing the disease.

This analogy underscores the urgent need to rethink our approach to sustainability and adopt regenerative systems. Just as a garden can be transformed into a self-sustaining ecosystem that enriches the soil and supports biodiversity, our global system can evolve to support a flourishing planet. Moving beyond sustainability to regeneration offers a pathway to heal our world, ensuring a legacy of vitality and abundance for future generations.

Why it matters

The shift from sustainability to Regenerative Sustainability is critical. As we face unprecedented environmental crises, the path forward requires more than just maintaining the status quo. We need systems that can adapt, heal, and thrive.

For those in roles like Sustainability Consultants or Managers, the challenge and opportunity lie in embracing this shift. It's about guiding businesses and communities to not just sustain themselves within the current system but to be leaders in the transition to a Regenerative Future.

In sum, sustainability is a foundation, but Regenerative Sustainability is the blueprint for a world where the well-being of our planet and all its inhabitants is not just maintained but enhanced. Let's move beyond sustainability towards a truly regenerative world.

illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.

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