festivore

Our lifestyle is no longer dependent upon nature; in fact, we buy it from corporations. Therefore business plays a role in the health and well-being — the sustainability — of the human species.

Sustainability is usually defined as the ability to provide for the needs of people today, without damaging the ability of future generations to provide for themselves. For a business (such as a restaurant), this translates into three elements of sustainable practices: ecology (minimize pollution and waste, recycle, compost, conserve energy, use shade-grown coffee, etc.) equity (treat employees fairly, don’t exploit suppliers, etc.) and economy (make enough profit to sustain the business).

Most companies voluntarily accept this “Triple Bottom Line,” as a guiding principle. Using it, we have made significant progress: certification of sustainable forests and fisheries, and increasing transparency in business, etc.

Let’s test the Triple Bottom Line; for example, take a cigarette maker. If the cigarette paper is recycled, the tobacco is organic and fair-traded, and the employees have great benefits, it may satisfy the requirements of the Triple bottom line, but is it sustainable? In the food arena, we are witnessing an explosion of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cancers in India, China and Brazil as millions of people shift from natural to industrial diets.

For decades, society has endeavored to understand and reduce human impacts on habitat for plants and animals, and we still have a lot of work to do. But our own habitat is also in poor condition. We are a very important species (to us), and our own habitat has been spoiled (by us). Humans are a part of the animal kingdom, a species in peril.

There must be a “fourth element of sustainability,” which asks the question, “What is the effect of the continued use of a company’s products on human health & well-being?” This applies especially to food, but also to other lifestyle products for entertainment, work, transportation and leisure.

How have we managed to overlook this critical factor? As environmentalists our blind spot has been to sometimes focus exclusively on “saving the planet,” while relegating threats to humanity as issues of global health, rather than sustainability. Only when we truly learn how to live in harmony with nature, our own bodies & our spirits, will we see the fullness of sustainability.

We need some natural principles to guide us as consumers, and we must provide clearer public expectations for the products and services that we buy.