The Sustainable Mind

Sustainability has a transcendent quality.
Can we make it part of our everyday reality?

In this episode, Todd Francis explores the idea that sustainable thinking is less like a band-aid for problems and more like a vitamin — something that strengthens individuals, communities, and future generations over time.

The possibilities for wiser decisions, personal growth, and long-term progress are boundless.

Join the conversation and discover the deeper value of sustainable thinking.

Transcript

Welcome From The Connecticut Shore

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello, my name is Todd Francis Banks. Welcoming you to the first episode of It's Sustainability Time. Welcoming you from the rocky shores of Connecticut, USA. And I'm very excited because this is a fascinating subject. So fascinating because it's the first time human beings collectively on such a large scale, massive scale, have tried to transcend the part of us that can be excessive, self-involved, self-interested, unconcerned, and consumed with the need for financial gains. We're trying to rise above that to achieve a goal, which is to promote a more sustainable society. Now there have been groups of people, indigenous cultures, towns and villages going back to the beginning of time who have lived sustainably. But not on this large of a scale. These small villages and towns and tribes used resources efficiently. They didn't overhunt things of that nature. They didn't dispose of waste improperly. They had reduced waste because they used every part of the animal or every part of a plant or fruit harvested or found. So the goal is to live in a more sustainable society. And some of the most known aspects of this are promoting a healthier environment and to better conserve resources for us and for future generations. It's also, there's also a belief that if we make the world a more sustainable place, we will become strengthened spiritually as individuals and at the community level. That's a very unique system of goals for human beings in a large society to have. Now let's let's take this seriously. Let's take this for a minute and understand that sustainability is not a series of prescriptions to reduce fossil fuel consumption and develop clean energy. Those are means that we utilize to promote a better and healthier environment. A better and healthier environment is part of a sustainable system, part of a sustainable community. Sustainable community is large and powerful, series of positives, has a positive character. It's about health and growth-oriented. It's not about a change in consumer preferences that reduces toxins in groundwater and using resources more adequately to reduce waste or small businesses doing the same in corporations. Sustainability is not a response to negative things about the world. It's not a tool to help avoid the decline or destruction of human culture and society. It's something that is growth-oriented, has a growth-oriented nature. It's health itself, plain and simple. It's part of a healthy society, part of the engine, part of the thing that makes it go round and round in health. Biodiversity is a healthy and strong natural environment where plants and animals can prosper. And that's a beautiful endpoint for a sustainable world, but it's not the goal. Human prosperity is the goal. A strong natural environment is an obvious endpoint of a sustainable world. Our prosperity is the goal of sustainability. It's a gift to ourselves and a gift to our future generations. So forget all the talk about sustainability, what it can do to prevent global warming. Those are activities and abilities that a sustainable society is capable of. So be glorified instead when you think about sustainability. Think about all the amazing things that people around us have done. Now and going way back into our past, our collective past, sowing seeds, some of these seeds fifty years ago, some of them five hundred years ago. What are seeds? Seeds such as democracy, forms of our spirituality, trains on tracks, the stock market. All of these things, parts of them are sustaining to us. Potentially, or certainly already, they have good sides, sides that are nourishing, sides that help us become healthy and survive, broaden our economy, give us jobs, raise life expectancy over the course of millennia. All these things, so many things we think of as bad only, parts of them are parts of our sustainable network. Example, Western legal system, American legal system. Now, if you were to say that the American legal system has seven purposes, and one of them is to oppress or to annoy, or she caused intimidation of certain peoples. Four or five of them certainly are part of our sustainable network, our sustainable system of living, our sustainable community. They're all there at some level, police are there to help all of us, community members, and at some level, that is what they do. Sustainability has to do with the wise becoming wiser. Surviving societies improve health. Sometimes they find health where there is none. Creative problem solving, wisdom, intelligence, eye intelligence, genius, pure genius. And that to me is a beautiful way to see all of this. It's a positive way to see. There's so many things out there that are giving enrichment. So you have to check out my book, soon to be released on Amazon. Live with Rose Colored Glasses, a workbook for positive living. So sustainability is plain and simply giving everything around us a proper value and giving them, defining them by the value that they're worth. But these values are not arbitrary, they're relative. We reassess the value of our choices and our preferences. We change our expectations and our habits to promote a society where things that are worth something are given the worth they deserve. Or people who are the greatest resource of all in a sustainable society that gives everyone an opportunity to grow is a better environment for ourselves and all of our children in an endless number of dimensions. The question is, are we at a juncture where all of society can improve? Embrace the spirit of what we're of what we are referring to as sustainability, push society to another level for the growth of our spirits, and certainly for the spirits and lives of our future generations. A better environment will come about when we have the ability to properly evaluate all of our resources, one system, one mindset. We cannot bring the importance of a natural world into better focus unless there is a mindset that governs our evaluation process. The way we see things, everything, is how we reach a fully sustainable society or an improved one, one that is more resilient, one set of improved values that permeate the mind. It's improving thinking for our civilization and all the challenges that are intertwined. It's the future, man. Sustainability is healthy resilience for society, our society. It's healthy stewardship of the planet, it's strong human capability to accomplish humanitarian goals. It's improving our harmony and coexistence with other forms of animal life. Is this all far fetched? Can we not achieve these goals? Of course we can. Why accept the bad thinking of others, permeating into our own spirits, our own hearts, our minds? Pick up a copy of my book, live with rose colored glasses, enjoy yourselves. Let's change the subject for just one second. Now, if you haven't had a pokey bowl, please do. It's a chef salad 2.0, no ham, no turkey, right? Smoked turkey and no cheese. Plenty to manja manja, just phenomenal. Pokey bowl. Get one. If there's no pokey bowl placed near you online, Google it. Got all of the ingredients. Go for it. Just outstanding. So to me, sustainability seems I feel that my definition is mature. I feel that it's forward-looking. I feel that it's non-alarmist, and I think that it's growth-oriented, has potential, carries that. So consider, please consider for yourself the way that you like to assess things. Sustainability is not about abandoning the achievements of modern society. It's about taking what is worked, productivity, innovation, democratic participation, and strengthening these things as we proceed toward the path of a more sustainable society. Not a new one, but one that becomes enhanced and is more sustainable by our own magnificent capabilities. But that's a whole nother conversation. I hope you're happy with this one. I appreciate you being here. I've enjoyed every minute, every moment of it. So Todd Francis Banks saying song to you from the Connecticut Shoreline, and we'll talk again. Take care.