Govenment gets in the way

This morning I sat down with one of my friends’ who’s name will remain anonymous, and talked to him about sustainability. I had a list of questions that I was going to ask him, below are the answers to those questions.

When you hear the word ‘sustainability’ what comes to mind?
After a moment of hesitation, the first word that came out of his mouth was “Green.” He went on to say that he thinks that the marketers in the world have won. Meaning that the whole idea of ‘sustainability’ has become a buzzword, a lot like propaganda. It doesn’t have the meaning it should.

What aspects of sustainability are important to you?
Efficient uses of energy.

Are you acting on those beliefs, and why?
Recently my wife and I bought a high efficiency washing machine, I take the bus to work and we only own one car. At the same time, he says that he doesn’t really do anything specifically to reduce energy consumption. Then he corrected himself. He mentioned to me that in the winter his heat comes from a woodstove as apposed to using electricity or gas. It is not the money savings that is important to him, but the idea of doings something with renewable resources.
They have garden, but it is for recreation purposes. They don’t consider it a food source for their family.

Is there anything holding you back from doing more?
He says lack of options. He would like to see more technology address the energy consumption issues.

If they are acting sustainable, what are they doing, and what do they think they can improve on.
My friends answer to this question I thought was pretty unique. He said that if he could improve on anyone thing, he would want to become a problem solver. When he sees an issue, he want to improve on it.

Are you thinking about the impact of their decisions on future generations?
“Yes, but not in the way you may think. I do things in my life that I hope will have a better impact on tomorrow”

Where do you think sustainability change will come from, large and small scale?
He sees change coming from Government, Corporations, Individuals, and Universities. "The government often gets in the way. They may have the best intention, however, bad regulation can create more problems. We can’t expect one are of our lives to make the change, we need everyone to work together. "

Who do you think should play a bigger role in helping us become more sustainable?
Again, I got another interesting response from my friend. He said that he would like to see an industry standard formed, a lot like Blu-ray and HD-DVD. “Why can’t all the major energy producers come together and decide on a new standard and then but all their effort towards it?” He said, “When large industry comes together to produce and standardize a product, we have revolutionary change. Maybe the energy industry isn’t competitive enough?”

Anything else you want to say?
I believe in taking care of the earth. It is the responsibility of everyone to do such a thing. We need to be good stewards to the natural resources available to us.