What is sustainability? This was a question
that I kept posing to myself throughout the duration of the Sustainability
Conference or SusCo as we came to know it. It was a two day long conference,
held as part of our latest Diploma Period, and organized mainly by AC’s
Sustainability Council, funnily enough, also known better to students as Susco
and ECT (Environmental Campaign Team) or as one Susco member put it, the more
radical wing of Susco.
As I mentioned above, the conference ran
for two days. It started on the first day with talks from guest speakers and
students to introduce the idea of sustainability and the purpose of the
conference. It was then followed by student run workshops to do with the
concept of ‘Roundview’ which is basically a concept to slow down and eventually
reverse the damage we have done while causing minimal impact to the normal
operations of current modern life. Though I thought the concept was too
idealistic and in my view unrealistic, I couldn’t help but be reminded of how
small permanent changes, where eventually more beneficial than making large
disruptive ones. The second half of the day saw us being split into groups to
attend the workshops we had chosen. I attended a workshop that shocked me
because it was more about personal and positive thinking than sustainability. I
guess the message was that to start taking care of the environment and others,
we have to first get ourselves in order.
The second day continued with speeches made
by potential Susco chairs and vice-chairs, talks and a panel discussion in the
morning, followed by workshops again and my personal highlight of the whole
conference, a FARMER’S MARKET. I left with a bag of loot, ranging from my dear,
dear persimmons, to delicious homemade cupcakes and gluten free produce made of
cheese and chickpeas.
That afternoon being the conclusion of the
conference saw the final, closing speeches and concluded with the announcement
of the new chair and vice-chair of the Sustainability Council. All in all, though
admittedly not my favourite conference, there had been some takeaways that were interesting to mull over.
To end, not with the intention of sounding cynical, but just because it sums up reality; and sometimes the truth hurts, “I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness.” - Aldo Leopold
