Unsustainable Practices are practices, methods and approaches that simply cannot endure.
Eating only Twinkies for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday is an unsustainable practice. Betting on the Detroit Lions to win the Super Bowl in my lifetime is an unsustainable practice (at least, that's how I feel, but this may be the year). Exploiting our unrecoverable natural resources at the expense of the future of our children is an unsustainable practice, and future generations will never forgive us for it.
Because there are so many unsustainable practices that are a part of our 21st century society, a form of leadership has emerged calledUbuntu Governance. This form of leadership and management that combines Ubuntu philosophical belief (everything and every one is connected) with circular economy principles (an economy based on re-purposed and re-used consumer and industrial goods) and Feminine Principle Leadership (visionary leadership that leaves no one behind) are people who ask five basic questions:
1.What are we doing?
2.Why are we doing it?
3.How does it serve humanity and life on earth?
4.What technology can be applied for a better outcome?
5.What is our vision about this going forward?
I've given the definition of Unsustainable Practices. Let me offer the definition of Sustainable Practices:
Sustainable Practices are practices, methods and approaches that will endure.
Simple enough. Now, here is a more detailed definition of the people who now champion Ubuntu Governance.
Ubuntu Governance is the practice of leaders to create and implement environmental, societal, and economic capacity to endure and benefit the whole of the earth.
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I put in the word "practice" in this definition because UG must go beyond theory and idealism and into a way of doing things like a practice. I included "create and implement" because leaders not only create ideas, but they have to take responsibility for them and provide ways for their implementation. I also put in "environmental, societal and economic" capacity because sustainability was at one time the exclusive domain of environmentalists. Now we realize that our environmental goals must be integrated with our societal and economic goals in order for any of them to work at all. "Capacity to endure" only means whatever we do for the future cannot be based on the scorched earth policies of the past where countries would pillage other lands and other peoples just to satisfy their own immediate needs. And finally, "benefit the whole of the earth" only means our methods and ways of the 21st century and beyond must lead with the question of how will our actions benefit life on earth. This sounds “woo woo” to some, but I would ask them…where did you get the idea that sustaining life on earth is silly? Who made you consider a murder-suicidepact with the earth as a realistic goal to attain?
Some of you may be saying "what's wrong with the way things are? I have a job, three squares a day and I can go out on the weekends. I wear my Crocs and I do my part for the homeless and the environment. I eat organically and I drive an EV.
First of all, you should be given a medal, not because of all the nice things you're doing, but because you have the courage to wear Crocs in public.
Ubuntu Governance isn't about all of the things you're doing individually. It's about all of the things we do collectively as a society. It’s not hard to figure out, that’s where the power is. This idea of creating a world that can endure isn't just for the do-gooders, but for the do-badders, too. It isn't just for the endangered American Bald Eagle, but for the sewer rat and the common house roach, too.I write books. I don't eat three squares, I graze all day and occasionally like a good hamburger. I've volunteered at a homeless shelter for 12 years. I founded and ran an advertising agency for 9 years. I don't drive an EV, but my car is a hybrid. Ubuntu Governance can't cater to just those who are members of the 'club' (people who think they’re doing all of the socially acceptable things that make us ‘good people’) It must be leadership for all the people, all the creatures and all the lands.
No doubt, many of you have heard this conversation before. The challenge of our time is to go beyond how it’s been framed and move to infrastructure development. Ubuntu gives us the idea. A circular economy framework gives us the economic foundation. Feminine Principle Leadership gives us the leadership idea. Ubuntu Governance must bridge the connection between various ideas, like building abundant communities, merging economic realities with climate realities but not throwing out the baby with the bathwater, championing true free enterprise, global connectedness and visionary leadership. Yeah, I know. That's a lot to put on one plate, but the truth is that they are all interconnected. UG must take this interconnectedness for granted and ask the question "how can we implement an infrastructure that is mindful of the long view of survivability and empowering to all of the earth's creatures?" That used to be the conversation of tree huggers. Now it's the common sense conversation of all humankind.
True sustainability has to be about a plan and a serviceable infrastructure. In my option, that begins now with Ubuntu Governance.
