This last phase of our meeting is for me to provide you with an overview of the key-themes I took note of in our Meet. There are several dialogues on what sustainable development, climate change, and sustainability are but the domains emphasized in each dialogue are economy, politics, and ecology. While these terms may sound distant and irrelevant, it's important to note that, more often than not, we’re participating in these domains more than we’re aware of. For instance, “Nature” isn’t ‘out-there’, we’re currently occupying it. So, once we have concluded our session, I’ll type up the key-points and provide a summary of the themes in our meeting. In sum, the narrative is your idea of sustainability in black and white, it’s for you to see your potential as a local actor and to have as a tool to begin to focus your effort in each of the domains.
IV. Narrative
Sample Question: How will you know you’re enacting Sustainability?
In the first step we defined a destination. In the second step we determined a current position. The third step is to increase the correspondence between steps one and two and to map-out a pathway to get you to where you want to be. There are ecological, economic, and political indicators that may be used as an external compass but the imperative is to cultivate sustainability interiorly and place it into action.
III. Cartography
Sample Question: How are you unsustainable?
The second step asks if things could be ‘any other way’. There are two themes to be addressed. One is that everything is not bad, perhaps, particular things are doing better than it seems when everything is considered all at once. The other is that details are familiarized to the point that we’ve become unaware of them. The difficulty is to figure out how to change the things that need to be changed and which parts are the parts which cannot be changed since the latter are the nuts and bolts that make the cogs in the machine rotate smoothly day after day. To tweeze out the two themes from the nitty-gritty, the second step addresses what is currently happening and if what is currently happening were not, what then, in your opinion, would be the next best (or better) thing to be done.
II. Visualization
I’d like to understand and become familiar with your idea of Sustainability. Sometimes ideas are not as abstract nor foreign as they are thought to be. So, first things first, let's find our way to the same page. I want to help you outline the difficulties and the dilemmas hindering movement towards your idea of Sustainability.
I. Consultation
Sample Question: What compelled you to
take-on your project / initiative?
Request a Meet to discuss and address what sustainability is for you.
Counseling others in Sustainability Science: (I-IV)
This report elaborates how sustainability and local ecology are inseparable. Orkyds blend perspectives upheld in anthropology, ecology, economics, political philosophy, and physcology to not only make clear how previous practices were interrelated with local ecology but to also articulate how other peoples around the globe understand living in an ecosystem similar to yours. The report addresses the local regime surrounding your project but suggests practices, like “life-hacks”, which are preferable to to-day’s current practices and how you can implement them to transition to sustainability in your locality.
blooming
This report identifies the disparities characterizing a locality. The report describes how political actors and economic institutions intermesh with local ecology. In regard to sustainability, the report investigates ‘what’s present that shouldn’t be [why]’ and ‘what’s not here and should be [why]’. In this sense this report places your project in relation to your local regime to not only provide you with the perspective of what is not being done but also to inform you of what can be done. The analytic report adds to the map drawn in our ‘meet’ by highlighting specific points, gaps, linkages, and potential relationships for you to focus on to implement local-sustainability.
Neighborly
This report addresses immediate action. The report is ecologically and politically shallow; the benefit of this report is that it provides an overview of (1) what point-substitutions are available for your operation and, (2) what, if any, alternative frameworks are currently used for businesses similar to yours. Since newer environmentally-friendly products tend to be more expensive the risks felt in this report are economic rather than ecological and political. Nevertheless, to be more environmentally-friendly and ecologically-conscious this report outlines options that are available to make incremental change.
Friendly
An Orkyd adds to what was discussed in the Meet. The report is an analysis of the ecologic, political and economic conditions of your locality. The reports come in three degrees and they are not successive. The Friendly report and the Blooming speak to different-ends which make them incompatible. The Neighborly report is broader than the Friendly report because it includes a description of the political and ecological context of your locality, but rather than being overzealous and prescriptive the report remains descriptive, making it a good intermediary between the first and the third report. The Blooming report elaborates on what can be done locally to actualize a sustainability that adheres to local ecology and local lifestyles. Below are short descriptions of the three degrees of Orkyds:
Develop a plan to make your project sustainable in your locality.
orkyd:
Projects take around 2.5 weeks
