My intention is definitely NOT writing an article on what sustainability is and what is not, however, some new thoughts have arisen during these period that I want to share.
Sustainability might be accepted as one of the most misused words of the century. Being a person who had chosen to work in this area some years ago, when the topic was not such popular at all and completely contrasts with economic concerns, recently, I am extremely puzzled about the term sustainability.
Just before the world was hit by the coronavirus, almost all industries, and mainly the fashion world, seemed to be extremely concentrated on decreasing their environmental impacts and tackle the waste problem, to halt climate catastrophe. Not a single day was passing without reading another brand or companies’ targets and success stories on sustainability. Working exclusively in this area as an expert and lecturer, I have been spending enormous time and efforts to follow, read between the lines, ask questions, compare data, and ultimately found myself with some dissatisfaction, which I could not define properly those days.
For sure, some exceptional forward thinker businesses putting sustainability at the heart of all their operations, do exist. However, the majority of the industry consists of companies faking (unconsciously) on environmental efforts, actually using them as a tool to sell more or to be seen in this popular game.
Through the years of working as a sustainability consultant ( which I am not keen to use as a title at all), often, the companies asked me to design their sustainability strategies. But, the main intention was usually NOT to find out how to create a positive impact on the planet, but to use sustainability as a tool and transforming it into a specific product or growth on a targeted customer, in short, into money.
The ugly truth was that we were right in the middle of the age of greenwashing.
During my isolation days, I’ve experienced a kind of enlightenment that pushes me to throw away most of the earlier frames that we have been using to implement sustainability practices. The main reason being, while trying to design circular business models and solutions, we have still been using the same traditional systems. Actually, right there, a huge mistake was being made. It takes a bit of history to be able to explain about that mistake:
Before the industrial revolution, production and consumption were operating in a very reasonable and environmentally friendly way. Back then, everything was designed for the required amounts and were being consumed reasonably. Longevity was not an option, but a natural characteristic of products. It was later discovered that it could be manufactured much cheaper, much faster, and ultimately much more. It did not start with a necessity of the consumer, but with a system leading to serve capitalism in a better way. The fundamentals of design, sales, marketing, and engineering, also the entire education system, have been set up to train people to cater to this model, encouraging higher consumption. Designer, engineer, or salesperson, whatever our profession is, we all are educated and supervised accordingly.
For many years this system was considered to be very successful. Because the term success is defined by numbers and sales growth, putting quantity over quality. It took years for (if lucky some of) us to realize that the system is broken: to work for contributing higher consumption in our fast forward and always-busy lives actually do NOT make us fulfilled in life.
Looking to the present day, understanding the consequences of this broken system to our planet, no doubt, a real transformation is required on social and economic practices. The critical question is, are existing methods that we tend to use enough to provide a long-lasting solution? That’s exactly where this big mistake happens, trying to solve problems with the same methods that have created them.
As very well quoted by Albert Einstein;
“We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”
Through our many years of education and professional life, to solve problems, we are used to employing systems to treat the symptoms, not the causes. With the existing methods and problem-solving tools, we keep on failing to reach a remarkable transformation. We need to go back to the root, understand the reasons, and start looking at problems in a different way. We need to seek to discover the unseen.
Therefore, to start talking about a real sustainable future, the first step should be to UNLEARN.
Unlearning is something we have never done before in our lives, it is absolutely challenging to clear out old habits and deep-rooted learnings.
During these corona days, i’ve been noticing some people speaking about and waiting for going back to normal soon, which reminds me of that graffiti on a wall in HongKong saying:
“We can’t return to normal, because the normal that we had was exactly the problem itself.”
So perhaps this forced slow-down period is an opportunity to think about what NORMAL means for us, and to reflect on UNLEARNing.
Article by Sinem Çelik
About Sinem Çelik
Sinem Çelik, the creator of BluLetters ,works as sustainability consultant and lecturer at BluProjects, which is a value-driven platform aiming to design solutions to inspire a better future. Recognising sustainability as a lifestyle and mindset, she also experiences a mindful living with her own ceramic brand BluCeramics