Changing our Accessories, Not Our Lifestyles-A New Year Letter from Marion Paul
On a daily basis, Equinox Center is asked for the latest on sustainability: What is our water use? Will we have enough energy? How fast is the ocean rising?
However, I am sometimes asked “What do you mean by vibrant communities?”
And I must admit, it is the facet of our work that focuses on community that I find to be the most pressing and the most compelling.
On an intellectual platform, we are supportive of vibrant, walkable communities that have robust economic opportunities, easy transportation options, and a clean environment with access to parks or natural areas. I doubt that anyone would disagree that these would be positive and agreeable goals.
However, for San Diego to meet our sustainability challenges, an intellectual stance is no longer enough, and we need our communities to take ownership and become involved in the solutions.
In other words, successful regional sustainability is equal to the sum of individual actions. Nothing less will do.
When fires were encroaching on our homes, we did not have the luxury to research and carefully plan out what we should be doing; we came together and rose up to meet the challenge. Although scientists and others play a critical role in the response to emergencies such as the October 2007 wildfires, at that time we also needed responsible people of character who understood their role in the larger community and acted with integrity.
We know San Diego is up to the sustainability challenge. This summer, our community successfully responded to the call to action to reduce water consumption. Now we simply need to fill in the brown lawns with drought-resistant plants, so we can save water and also enjoy breathtaking landscapes in the long term.
Clearly, we need to reconsider some of the ways we’ve been “living large” and consider how each of us, in our personal lives, can respond with integrity to the growth and environmental challenges before us.
That does not have to mean a rapid decline in our quality of life. Instead, we need to focus now on living smart: smart bulbs, smart cars, energy efficient appliances, thoughtful use of water. The upcoming release of our Regional Quality of Life dashboard will allow us to examine how we are doing as a community, and hopefully what we can do to improve.
We will only change our accessories, not our lifestyles. And, truthfully, we no longer have a choice. Traditional resources are finite and the population is growing.
San Diego should set the standard for living smart – we have the best people to get the job done: ourselves, our families and our neighbors.
As Eleanor Roosevelt said “the future is literally in our hands to mold. But we can’t wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow is now.”
Marion Paul