"Sustainable" and "Eco-friendly" Are Relative Terms

A reader asks:

I just wanted to get your take on something I am writing for one of my college classes. I’m writing about sustainability in the areas of energy and construction. Regarding construction I had a thought about the question of how sustainable it really is. Even though the companies use sustainable machines the overall real result of construction is land degradation and transformation of an area to create something for human usage. Even companies building green buildings wipe out entire small ecosystems to build on. So I was wondering how sustainable are these companies in reality? Even though they use the sustainable energy efficient machines they ultimately create unsustainable results that hurt the environment in some way. I was just wondering if you had any thoughts on it.

Oh, I have thoughts, to be sure. But I’m not sure there is one easy answer. The problem is that concepts of “sustainability,” “eco-friendliness,” etc. are relative, not absolute terms. I liken it to a case that goes to the Supreme Court; the reason it got there is that it’s a matter of conflicting rights. In my opinion, people have a limited (but not absolute) right to develop the surface of the planet for their comfort and enrichment.

Do we all have the duty to live in uncomfortably tiny homes with no air conditioning and no fuel-based transportation? No. On the other hand, do we have the right to live like pigs, and exploit the land and the life forms that live on it without limit? I don’t believe so.

My point is that all this exists on a gradient scale; that’s the point of efforts like LEED certification. LEED Platinum is one end of the continuum, and some clown who wants to build a ski resort under a glass dome in the deserts of the Middle East is at the other.

Fortunately for all of us, more and more people are catching onto this notion every day. At a certain point, I predict it will be “cool to be green,” and we’ll see a rapid abandonment of the trappings of our society that are obvious resource hogs, like the 6600-pound SUVs that we see all around us. I’ve written that the “new living large is living small.” I honestly think we’re heading there.

Thanks for your wonderful question, and good luck in your class.