Who is your “sustainability hero”?

Comments

I'm not so sure about my sustainability hero, but I remember the first time I really admired a sustainable technology.

I'd been dragged to a home living expo by my girlfriend on a scorching hot nor’west day in Christchurch. During a solar heating demonstration I watched a salesman pour a bucket of cold tap water straight into the top of a large solar collector that stood baking in the afternoon sun. I will never forget what happen next. After a few seconds a screaming jet of superheated water vapour shot from the panel’s opposite end. He dumped bucket after bucket into that panel, but the rush of steam never even slowed down. That was the first time I began to appreciate the sheer magnitude of free energy that comes from the sun.

Submitted by kemp on 4 December 2007 22:35:37

I admire anyone that attempts to be more sustainable, in 50 years sustainability will be common place....those that don't embrace it will lead empty lives.

Submitted by Jimmy Rainwood on 5 December 2007 16:30:51

Ray Anderson of Interface Corporation's story is amazing. According to the movie "The Corporation", he read "The Ecology of Commerce" by Paul Hawken and had an epiphany. Essentially overnight, Ray had a grand realisation that his company was having an incredibly huge impact on the planet, and began to change all of his processes, procurement policies, and business models to become as responsible as possible. His company now is in the carpet leasing (instead of selling) business - when carpet gets worn out, Interface pulls it up and reuses or recycles as much as possible from the old carpet, and ensures that the customer always has a nice looking carpet installed. After all, who actually needs to own their carpet? Paying to have it supplied as a service by a carpet expert makes so much more sense! Ray wrote a book called "Mid-Course Correction" if you'd like to read more.

Submitted by katienz on 5 December 2007 16:36:17

...."those that don't embrace it will leave empty lives"....? Are you for real...? LOL

Submitted by jimbo on 5 December 2007 18:40:16

kemp, that's excellent.

Jimmy, I hope that everyone will become more sustainable over the next 50 years - I don't think we really have any alternative!

katienz, that's a great story - thanks for sharing!

jimbo, please watch that you are not insulting anyone with your comments. It's fine to disagree, but tell us why you disagree.

Submitted by Sarah on 7 December 2007 08:50:14

Robert Atack.

Submitted by Steve McKinlay on 12 December 2007 21:03:13

We've got a few good stories about sustainability heroes ... or Climate Heroes .... over at http://www.bethechange.org.nz

Submitted by bethechange on 14 December 2007 19:32:11

I adore Canadian David Suzuki. He has written a lot of great texts concerning the environment. One of his main aims I found out after reading his autobiography is delightfully down-to-earth. This avid, incredibly informed, and enduring campaigner just wants to make sure that he can take his grand-kids Salmon fishing, one of his favourite pastimes. His book "Good News For A Change: How Everyday People Are Helping The Planet" shows that the environment and making money are not mutually exclusive. It is a positive spin on success stories, which I found incredibly inspiring. Another thing that you can do is take The Nature Challenge on his website www.davidsuzuki.org. Showing it is so simple to help the environment, you do not have to be a sandal wearing hippy, just a few changes will mean the earth.

Submitted by hayleykp on 11 January 2008 18:02:21

P.S. Another thing that I love about David Suzuki which I read in one of his books is thinking of the earth as our "capital" and the sun's energy as the "interest". The suns energy is the only external input, no matter what, the earths resources are finite, this is a point that has been quibbled over scientifically seemingly, just to waste time. So by using the interest in whatever ways we can, we will do better. Also, something else I read that I really identified with was the way that whatever we remove from deep underground causes a raft of issues, the example being mining. Far better to seek alternatives.

Submitted by hayleykp on 11 January 2008 18:07:39

My sustainability heroes are all the people a generation or two before me, who had probably never heard of sustainability but did it anyway!

My parents' and grandparents' generations lived through wars, depressions, and times when they couldn't just jump into a car and drive into town on a whim. We seem to think we have invented sustainability, but actually those people who live in an unsustainable manner are just a small blip in history (and in geography and culture). Most people in the world had/have to preserve scarce resources as a matter of necessity.

We could do a lot of good by talking to elderly people and asking them how they used to get on before cars, supermarkets, fast food and fancy packaging.

I had a delightful conversation with an 82-year-old gentleman the other day. He told me how he courted his wife-to-be. He rode from Auckland city to Avondale on his bike every evening, then took her out for a walk. At weekends they would take the tram into the city to go to the movies.

People like that are my sustainability heroes! :)

Submitted by Lindis on 15 January 2008 15:43:42