Common Ground
This entry originally appeared on August 14th, 2024 using the mirror.xyz platform and has been permanently stored onchain and signed via ArWeave.
A basis agreed to by all parties for reaching a mutual understanding. That’s the webster’s definition.
Here’s mine:
The foundation for sustainable living, where diverse perspectives converge to ensure a balanced, curious, thriving world.
The birth of words slowly continues.
I hosted an Environmental Literacy workshop last week with about 30 attendees. To get everyone thinking along the same lines, I broke down the words:
Environmental means relating to the natural world and the impact of human activity on its condition. Very relatable.
Literacy is the ability to read and write.
So environmental literacy is one’s ability to read and write about the natural world and the impact of human activity on its condition. It’s about so much more than trees and plastics.
To me, the environment is where we are at that moment in place, at that particular moment in time. It’s about social structure, community, experience, and the resources around us. It’s about living the life we have been given in a whole and complete way.
It’s about our awareness of what’s around us and how we embrace and treat others.
Professionally, I’ve always been intrigued with ESG models. I have worked on countless projects in the built environment that have achieved some form of LEED certification as defined by the US Green Building Council including BD+C (Building Design and Construction) ID+C (Interior Design and Construction) and to a lesser degree, O+M (Building Operations and Maintenance). It feels like a good start, but these are goals and certifications rather than objectives and performance. It’s hard to protect and enhance biodiversity and ecosystems and reduce our contribution to global climate change when you build a massive building. Especially when purchasing credits is an option to offset shortcomings.
Those are the words we know and use in ‘sustainable construction’.
So much is happening around us we simply don’t recognize. And those words fall woefully short. My discussion with Darren Murph this week suggests those words are in the ‘margin.’
There is an entire world of invisible energy exchange that we depend on for life: The carbon system, the hydrologic system, and photosynthesis. NASA breaks essential life support into 9 systems “Air Supply, Communication, Electricity, Food, Recreation, Temperature Control, Transportation, Waste Management, and Water Supply.”
Here are some novel, innovative words to consider:
Rewilding, Permaculture, Adaptive Reuse, Place Type, Attainable Sustainable, Indigenous Wisdom, Dynamic Agroforestry, Patient Capital, Renewable, Ecological Economics, Transition Investing, Phase Change.
These words are both compelling and extremely hopeful. That’s one of the many virtues of literacy - newfound meaning and a more profound understanding.
These systems are working with us. They are natural, persistent, and interoperable. They’re ubiquitous and omnipresent. They’re also fragile, finite, and sensitive for the human species.
We can find common ground.
Common ground on ESG models that allow the space for these discussions to happen from the S rather than the E or the G.
Common ground that we can be both pro-business and pro-planet at the same time.
Common ground that recognizes before we can sustain, we must understand how we consume.
Common ground that certifying performance trumps purchasing offsets.
Common ground in literacy…and acceptance of and support for curiosity.
If we choose the right words and use them at the right time to mean the right thing, we might just find ourselves in agreement.
I hope you get outside today. 🥾🌳
Today’s song pairing is Feel Us Shaking by The Samples.