Sustainability is not a choice.

While forests are burning, species are dying, and crops are drying, we seem to believe that eco-living is still a choice. That yes, we shouldn’t fly, but we can, and we really want to, so we do it. That yes, meat is harmful to the planet, but no one can expect us never to eat meat again, so well, Bon Appetite. That yes, organic produce is better than conventional, but it’s more expensive, and we really don’t want to spend so much money on food. 

What makes us think that we have a choice? 

The answers I found:

• Because our brains are not capable of dealing with this sort of threat (psychologists and neuroscientists)
• It’s capitalisms fault (economists)
• Because our consciousness is not yet evolved enough (spiritual seekers and personal development enthusiasts)
• Because we have lost touch with “the truth” that we are all one (also often spiritual seekers, and many who integrate indigenous knowledge)
• Because we are locked-in in unsustainable pathways (systems theorists) 

Personally, I can identify with each of those lines of thinking, and whichever rabbit hole I happen to go down at a specific point in time seems the most convincing. Having tried to change my behavior based on each of these, I found no one is more right than the other. I rather concluded that it shows how complex sustainability - and human behavior - is. Sustainability is not a choice. Yet, to me, it still feels like one.