The Philosophy of Sustainability: Element 5 - Conservation

This is Part 5 of a 6-part series wherein elements of a philosophy of sustainability are suggested.

5.                  Conservation

‘Waste not want not; willful waste makes woeful want.’

Benjamin Franklin

The presence of waste indicates an inefficient or incomplete use of resources or energy.  When resources or energy are wasted they are converted from accessible and concentrated states to inaccessible and diffuse states.  Additional effort is then needed to concentrate more resources and energy than would have been needed if more care had been taken initially.  Human systems are inherently wasteful and much of our waste is toxic.

In non-human ecosystems, waste products are generally excreted or exhaled.  The exhalations and substance of one organism become the inhalations and nutrients of another as they are processed through planetary cycles.  Organisms attune themselves to the limits imposed by ecosystems, elements are integrated into a dynamic balanced process, and resources are conserved. 

Conserving energy and resources is hard work.  A conscious effort is needed to carefully use materials and energy.  That effort requires knowledge and skill acquired by understanding how processes work.  Questions such as:  where do energy and material flows originate, how are they transformed, and where do they emanate from, must be answered.  Armed with that knowledge, one can explore less wasteful approaches to accomplish necessary tasks.  Conversation may be achieved through process modifications, material substitutions, and behavior modifications.

When evaluating systems for energy and material conservation, it is perhaps more important to understand why a system exists at all.  Is the activity serving a valuable purpose?  If not, then by definition is the activity not wasting material and energy?  If an activity serves no valuable purpose and it consumes valuable material and energy perhaps the need for that activity should be reconsidered.   

Waste is not only costly from the perspective of having to retrieve additional material and energy to replace what has been lost, but it is also irreverent.  Unnecessary waste shows a lack of respect for ourselves, posterity, and the earth as a whole.  If the premise stated earlier that we are all manifestations of the whole is accepted, then unintended waste of energy and materials is sacrilege and intentional waste, in addition to being ignorant, is a physical expression of mental and spiritual imbalance.  We must accept that materials are finite and that our use of them has consequences for current and future generations.  More importantly, we must make the right choices about why we do what we do and take responsibility for our words and deeds.