Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Environmental Sustainability Requires Social Sustainability

We have been following the WorldWatch Institute's Vision for a Sustainable world and were pleased to find a post on their blog from last Fall demanding that social sustainability be included in environmental sustainability. A set of questions they pose mirror ones we are asked at each and every talk we give no matter the audience: "Will people be forced into false tradeoffs—choosing economy over ecology, or vice versa? Will sustainability happen at the cost of growing disparities and hardship?

Social Green is determined to debunk the myth that green innovations can only happen with increased costs to a populous already economically suffering. Or that green tech is only for those at the top of the income latter. In Living Green we provide many examples of affordable green living as well as developers and communities devoted to affordability + environmental justice. Through our current research we are continuing to work with communities doing just this and we hope to share some of our findings with you soon.

WorldWatch echoes our message: "environmental sustainability requires social sustainability...Environmentalists need to be as aware of the social dimensions of sustainability—well-versed in issues like living wages or occupational health and safety..."

Read their post to find out more.

Environmental Sustainability Requires Social Sustainability

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