The idea of sustainability can imply there is one perfect, unchanging future, if only we could work out how to get there. Resilience might be more useful, in that it assumes a dynamic environment and that perfection is impossible. You need to design systems to accommodate failure rather than eliminate it. By trying to be perfect, many visions of sustainability are quite brittle
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of resilience over the pursuit of a perfect and static future in sustainability.
Jamais Cascio's quote challenges the conventional notion of sustainability by suggesting that aiming for a flawless state is often unrealistic and can lead to inflexibility. Instead, he advocates for resilience, which acknowledges the unpredictable nature of the world and encourages the development of systems that can adapt to failures. This perspective promotes a more pragmatic and effective approach to sustainability, recognizing that imperfection is inherent in life and that embracing this can lead to more robust solutions.
In practice
During a workshop on sustainable practices, this quote can be used to stimulate discussion on adapting to changes in environmental conditions.
Sustainability is a seemingly laudable goal - it tells us we need to live within our means, whether economic, ecological, or political - but it's insufficient for uncertain times. How can we live within our means when those very means can change, swiftly and unexpectedly, beneath us?
Trying to do what your competitors are doing but basically a little bit better is probably not going to be the winning strategy. The problem is finding what your competitors wouldn't even consider doing.
Being connected to the Internet means being vulnerable to coordinated actions that can knock down walls of secrecy and shatter mechanisms of control.
If New York is a wise guy, Paris a coquette, Rome a gigolo and Berlin a wicked uncle, then London is an old lady who mutters and has the second sight. She is slightly deaf, and doesn't suffer fools gladly.
Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.
Instead of buying six things, buy one thing that you really like. Don't keep buying just for the sake of it.
Brothers, he who dies here dies in the radiance of the future, and we are entering a tomb all flooded with the dawn.
We thank Him less by words than by the serene happiness of silent acceptance. It is our emptiness in the presence of His reality, our silence in the presence of His infinitely rich silence, our joy in the bosom of the serene darkness in which His light holds us absorbed, it is all this that praises Him.
The western mantra is that Israel seeks negotiations without preconditions, while the Palestinians refuse. The opposite is more accurate.
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