Sustainable Living

by Blas Jacob Cabrera

(Draft: June 4^th, 2004)

Table of Contents

Section I Content Overview

* Executive Summary
*Logistical Organization and Structure of Paper
*Introduction

Section II Case Studies in the Progression of Sustainable Living

*Organizations part of a Collective Movement
*Sustaining Personal Involvement in the Movement
*Sustainable Living in the Education System

Section III Details of Sustainable Living

*Introduction to Conscious Shifting
*Principles of Sustainable Living
*Concepts of Sustainable Living

Section IV Beyond Sustainable Living

*Why Sustainable Living Isn't Enough
*Beyond Sustainable to Thriving Life
*Balance of everything, beyond life itself? Connection back to sustainable living

Section V Supplemental Information

*Glossary
*Outline Descriptions
* Index to Appendices

Section I
Content Overview

Executive Summary

Presentation Sum-up
In essence, sustainability and Sustainable Living are different. Sustainability can be associated with sustaining something that may not be sustainable which creates an oxy moron. Sustainable Living is the union of sustainability and life, where the focus shifts to a more action orientated approach where we focus on changing our own lives to improve the collective whole. The foundation of Sustainable Living can be condensed into a few principles and concepts, which can be used in practice of our daily lives and decision-making. These core principles and concepts have evolved from much experience involving a collective movement to improve our world. Sustainable Living and the concept of sustainability allow us to explore beyond the confines of our educational experience.
Basic Conclusions
Sustainable Living is the basic understanding of the union between sustainability and life. The foundational principles are: balance, spectrums, intention, hope, trust, and time. The foundational concepts described include the cycle of production, the cycle of education, collaboration, physical, mental, and spiritual health and safety, releasing, forgiveness, gardening and common sense. Sustainable Living is only one aspect of a greater existence of life on this planet, and community itself can be looked at in more detail, as one of many separate realms of life. Each individual has the ability to organize their life how it works for them.

Logistical Organization and Structure of Paper

General Overview
This paper should be organized and approachable, to access any perspective or particular topic of the entire thesis. Each paragraph has a title to allow simple reference to the content. To allow for even more detailed reference into the content of the thesis, a set of outlines and detailed outlines will be available, one of which will outline the key words or ideas brought up in every sentence. These outlines will make it accessible to any detail of the information in the thesis for people who aren't into reading it entirely. There is also a glossary with all the key concepts and ideas where a little more information could be available as a quick reference while you are reading. The primary version of this thesis is a web site, therefore it is possible that some aspects may be formatted strangely.

Interactive Sustainable Paper
Is it possible to bring Sustainable Living to the core of even writing a paper? Your experience in reading this paper should include writing it as well. You are encouraged to interact with this thesis and give comments on any segment or issue as it is always in draft and will be evolving. Input and collective agreement on the information presented is crucial to making this paper successful. Eventually there is the hope of having an interactive ability on the web to actually edit the paper and submit it while you read. Sustainable Living will always be changing. Not only does the writer of the paper need to take individual ownership to enable the freedom to explore, so should the reader take individual ownership of what they read and bring into their consciousness with the freedom of understanding and expression. It is not good enough just to read for your own benefit, but to enhance the experience for future readers.

Introduction

Sustaining What? Sustaining Life!
When we talk about sustainability often the question comes up: what are we trying to sustain? That question will always haunt the people involved in the sustainability movement. By introducing the concept of Sustainable Living as a separate understanding from sustainability, it gives a new context that focuses on a smaller, specific aspect of sustainability. Sustainable Living could be described as the union between the realms of sustainability and life. In other words Sustainable Living is the study of sustaining life.

Changing Ourselves
This paper will not discuss the definition of sustainability, or the many crises across our world. Instead this paper will focus on the conscious paradigm shift within each and every one of us, which is the essence of Sustainable Living. Instead of looking at the problems of the world, this paper will encourage you to change the way in which you look at and perceive the world, and your relationship to it. As conscious beings we control how we make goals and how we achieve them. Through the application of Sustainable Living we can change the way in which we understand the world individually and collectively. We can change how we make decisions in order to improve our world and the quality of life. We can change the way our communities exist and interact.

Understanding the Individual vs. the Collective
There are two main aspects to sustainability, and therefore to Sustainable Living (and really any realm of life). One aspect is our personal and individual understanding, and organization of the world. The other is the multiple, societal, or collective understanding, and organization of the world. Each is equally important, yet the collective understanding of the world is grounded into each individual persons understanding, added to that collective. Therefore it is, and will be increasingly more important to begin and create a new foundation of our collective understanding with the individual as the foundation.

Section II
Case Studies in the Progression of Sustainable Living

Organizations part of a Collective Movement

The Beginnings of a Sustainability Movement at UC Santa Cruz
The collective movement for sustainability at UC Santa Cruz was slow coming. For years there were many attempts at students and staff alike in making individual efforts to improve the sustainability of our campus and society. Student groups would come and go, and information would be lost, breaking continuity throughout campus and the community. Then in the summer of 2001, a student named Jessian Choy founded the Student Environmental Center (SEC), based off of the CU Boulder SEC, in an attempt to bring continuity and a central location to the movement at UC Santa Cruz. This brought about the ability to have multiple organizations and projects all working together to improve the sustainability of the campus. Within three years the momentum has grown exponentially with ripples across the state of California and the nation.

Collective Sustainability Movement Year 1 & 2
The first year the SEC focused on foundation, a Board of Advisors, and getting a ballot measure passed to help fund the efforts. The first Annual Campus Earth Summit was put on, along with a successful Campus Earth Festival. The next summer leaders worked with Greenpeace to start a statewide UC Go Solar campaign, founding the California Student Sustainability Coalition (CSSC). At UC Santa Cruz, the SEC founded three campaigns, the UCSC SEC CSSC chapter of the statewide coalition, Student for Organic Solutions (SOS), and Waste Prevention. In one year, the students improved knowledge about organic foods, educated about waste prevention, got a $3 per student per quarter ballot measure passed to create the Campus Sustainability Council (CSC) as part of student government, and helped the state wide coalition to successfully lobby the UC Regents to pass a Green Building Policy and Renewable Energy Standard. Also the second Campus Earth Summit was a success, and an even bigger Campus Earth Festival.
Collective Sustainability Movement Year 3
Right after the UC Regents passed the sustainability policy; the California Sustainability Advisory Council (CSAC) was founded as the Advisory Board for the CSSC. The CSSC founded two new statewide campaigns, Move UC, focused on transportation, and the Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP), focused on curriculum. During the year the California State University system joined the CSSC, and the University of California Student Sustainability Coalition (UCSSC) evolved as the UC branch. At UC Santa Cruz the CSC was founded as a funding body within the student government, the UCSC SEC ESLP Chapter was founded, and an eventful Campus Earth Festival was put on. The most successful Campus Earth Summit, which was even attended by the Chancellor and Assemblyman Laird, was fully documented and became the first completed Blueprint for a Sustainable Campus. A staff and student coalition has been created to form a Blueprint Committee and a Chancellors Advisory Committee on Sustainability.
A Bumpy Ride
The magnitude and momentum created from this exponential growth over the last three years is magical. These are entire organizations listed, not just projects, and each organization has many inter-related projects which are coordinated from a few crucial hubs like the SEC Steering Committee, and the CSSC Statewide Coordinator. As always, when you have this much going on, everything doesn't work out the way you want, and we have found ourselves coming back to many foundational communication and structure decisions which cannot be overlooked any further. For everything that goes wrong or falls through the cracks, there seems to be five that go right. Although much is improving with this movement, it is not ok when people fall through the cracks and sacrifice their own wellbeing. In this time we find ourselves with a massive organizational collective, which should begin to slow down growth and ground itself into the earth and the community, to re-collect and strategize its momentum. The only way to ground the movement is to ground the people within it.

Sustaining Personal Involvement in the Movement

Individual Case Study
As the writer of this paper, I have had a pivotal role in each of the listed student organizations, as well as many not listed. I was a founding member within the CSSC, UCSC SEC CSSC chapter, CSAC, ESLP, UCSC SEC ESLP chapter, CSC, was involved in each of the Campus Earth Summits and Festivals, and helped draft the beginnings of the Blueprint for a Sustainable Campus. How was I able to do all this, go to college, be involved in numerous other organizations, and still stay sane? It is true that I wasn't sane to begin with, but either way my involvement completely changed my life and affected my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual being. The more I learn, the more I understand the importance of grounding myself, and slowing down to allow my personal growth as a human being.

Storing Energy
During my college career of six years, only the second half did I work within the collective movement. For the first three years, I spent much of my time grounding myself with YOGA, which I had started in high school, and got involved with a style called Warrior Yogaä. I also actively pursued my family roots by living in Madrid, Spain with relatives (which is where I first got an email about the founding of the SEC). Going to YOGA three times a week for three years along with meditation, hikes, and eating as healthy as I could, seemed to increase the energy within my body and my ability to tap into the energy of the earth and universe. As I got more involved with the movement, I started teaching Warrior Yogaä, and still do, but I was unable to go to YOGA class three times a week like I had before. I could feel myself becoming less connected and grounded, and loosing energy be exerting myself too much. There were times this year where I would attend eight meetings a day regularly. Only with the energy I had stored up, and the bit of YOGA that I did to keep continuity, was I able to sustain myself. I feel through, that I am about to crack, as I have been getting sick during the past two quarters. I even had to limit the number of meetings to no more than five per day. Now I have the need to realign and balance my life to bring grounding to myself and the movement as a whole.

Sustainable Living in the Education System

Education Evolution
Our society's educational system is at an evolutionary turning point, similar to the paradigm shift of consciousness occuring within the collective movement. The way in which we teach our children has already been changing drastically with increased standardized testing. The methods for teaching children will continue to change drastically and by bringing Sustainable Living into the classroom we are able to increase the activity, involvement, and engagement of students into every aspect of their own education. The case study, which evolved from the collective movement, is the Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP), started in Spring 2004, which is a student run, student taught class, lecture series, and seminar simultaneously administered at five UC campuses.

ESLP
The ESLP came out of an idea to have a lecture series with world famous speakers, and the need for a class to pass along the knowledge gained over the last few years to bring continuity. So merging the two created an amazing class that got five UC campuses to work together to put on the a statewide lecture series to more than 500 students across the state.

Feedback on the Lectures
The feedback from students was incredible. Having world famous lectures come every week made the class incredibly exciting and inspirational. Students would say that this was the first class they had every really taken, their best class, their first real class, or that it had changed their life. The material presented actually connects the dots of our society and the world, to give a perspective that could never be understood in a specialized subject matter. One of the facilitators of the class said: “It was the class that I always wanted to take, so I had to teach it”.

Action Research Teams
Many of the campuses contributed to making action research teams, some campuses even had a seminar class with limited enrollment. Action Research Teams work on a project, which is directly viable to bring solutions to the surrounding communities. Students work in groups to research and document where we are now, who’s involved, what are other campuses doing, and how to move forward. By engaging in a coordinated effort to improve the community, students are involved in experiential learning.

The Methodology of the Class

As part of the sate wide strategy, we are assessing what made our class special and documenting it as the foundational methodology of teaching evolution. There are many parts to the methodology that are important, but the key factors understood so far are: experience learning, students teaching and engaging their own education, group learning, student research which is applicable to the community and society, and public service. Having this program be student run and student taught is one of the most crucial principles involved. Only when students are incontrol of their education in a balanced relationship with their professors, the education on both sides increases. It helps for not only understanding the importance of this class, but also in learning in all other classes.

Section III
The Development of Conscious Systemic Change

Introduction to Conscious Shifting

Think Local, Global, and Universal, Act In Balance

Each of us has an interdependence to the earth, every living species, natural resources, each other, energy, and the entire universe from the beginning of time. You are, therefore I am, is the foundation for understanding that we are only a creation of what is aground us, and vice versa. It is not enough to say that a tree should not be cut down because that will limit our oxygen, that it looks pretty to us, or that it has a type of animal in it that we like to eat. We must love and want to not cut down the tree simply because it exists in and of itself. The principles and concepts of Sustainable Living can help us understand the importance of balancing our thoughts, emotions, and actions that affect the world.
Open Systems and Interdependence
By understanding open systems and holistic thinking we can see the interconnectedness of all things. There is a need to build structures and ways of life that increase connection and interaction between all species, cultures, and realms of life. Currently our society has been built and taught to our children as a closed system, with different aspects of our world being understood as separate and fragmented from one an other. It is crucial to limit fragmentation and understand the interrelation of all ideas and beings.

Introduction to Principles and Concepts of Sustainable Living
The overlap between the definitions and common vocabulary of principles and concepts is a "basic thought". This means that the concepts and principles of Sustainable Living are the foundation to all basic thoughts and assumptions involved with the ideas in this paper.
It is important to note that in the same difference of the individual vs. the collective, relate to principles, concepts, sustainability and Sustainable Living. Sustainability and principles seem to relate more with the larger understanding and consciousness of the collective. Concepts and Sustainable Living seem to relate more with individual evolution. In order to change the way in which we see our relationship to the world, we need be able to redefine the world in new terms.

Principles of Sustainable Living

Principle
The primary source or ingredient for moral and ethical laws, assumptions, [or beliefs] used for quality decision-making.
These principles should be understood and evolved into the basic foundation for our conscious thoughts, especially when used to make decisions on any aspect of sustaining life on this planet. These should be the main guiding principles for our morals, laws, and beliefs as they pertain to Sustainable Living. These principles can be used on a personal level or collective level.
Balance
Everything is balanced, up to the highest levels. Give and take, good and evil. To foster balance understand that the balance of everything exists within. Each of us has good and evil inside. Light includes everything. Death brings life. Life brings life, and sometimes death brings more death. Balance is the focal point of all life and all death. As a core factor in Sustainable Living, we can see that balance affects all realms of life.
Spectrums
Although you only need two things to create balance, for example good and evil, to live sustainably, you must understand where you exist in relation to everything around you. Therefore nothing is simply good or evil, black or white; there is always a spectrum of colors. Spectrums put ideas and understanding into a natural order. When two opposites are given, understand that they are only opposite sides of a spectrum with infinite levels in-between. Pay particular attention to what might lie directly in the middle, balanced between the two opposites. There can even be spectrums of spectrums, which lays out the complexity of our world and our simple understanding of it.

Intention
Everything must be done with intention with increased concentration, observation, and attention on our suroundings and actions. Only with intention are we able to enact a plan with a purpose, instead of just going with what is because there isn't enough time to do something else. Take the time to plan, strategize, go slow (not in crisis mode), and take risks when necessary. Truly believe in what you do, and allow a community too also.
Hope
Hope is the thread that holds our world together. Hope is what keeps people going, persistent, and keeps people from quitting. It is the bond that brings all ability for us to continue living and pass on our knowledge to future generations. Nurture even the slightest figment of hope as a tiny seedling. Hope leads to creating an atmosphere of care and comfort needed to evolve.
Trust
In order to find trust, we look inside ourselves and connect to the universe. Satish Kumar walked with a friend from India to London, and then Washington DC. He had no money and no food, just his trust that the universe would guide him well and the world would provide for his needs. If we trust ourselves and our communities we will have our needs met and be able to evolve.
Time
Time is like magic; it can be an eternity or a blink of an eye. This kind of Time, which we will give a capitol T, is very different from our concept of time within clocks and schedules. Our society has taught us that time is linear. As the fourth demention, real Time, enveloped through a Mandela of consciousness and attention within the present moment, defines our three dimensional world. Every action we take takes affect instantaneously and the ripples all occur in the present moment. Every action only affects the present moement.

Concepts of Sustainable Living

Concept
An imaginative abstract perception used as a general guide, plan, or method of behavior.
In this context, concepts are tangible steps that people could take to change their behavior to improve the quality of life for themselves and the planet. Each one can be applied as its own action, or as a medifor to apply in all aspects of one’s life. These are tangible examples of how to apply principles of sustainable living into practice. These are meant to be able to bring systemic change within a system.
A Landfill is a Recycling & Composting Center Waiting to be Organized
“Trash” or “Garbage” does not exist in and of itself. They are metaphors for a place in our minds where things go and never come back. Unfortunately landfill itself exists, and we have lot of it. We no longer can afford to have landfills if we are to sustain life on this planet. A linear model where natural resources are used to create products and then dumped into a landfill to be encapsulated is an understanding of the past. There is a process for taking natural resources and turning them into products, therefore we will have to begin to process our waste products back into resources for the natural environment. For now, divert as much as you can from the landfill and learn how to compost. Have fun with what you don’t need; organize and categorize as you’d like, and don’t worry if it ends up in the landfill anyways. When you do put something in the landfill, visualize digging through the landfill to find it and sort it out, hopefully pre-organized, and support a minor tax for city composting and research for processing waste products back into resources for the natural environment.
Learn Only to Teach
The last reason to learn is for you. Everything you learn has new purpose if the reason you learn it is to teach it to someone else. We learn what is good and what we don’t necessarily want to teach people, but only when we pass this knowledge on to future generations are we completing the natural path of education to sustain our children and the planet. Our education system teaches us that education is a linear progression to a degree, many people never even use the information that they learn in College. Every time you learn something, imagine ways of passing that knowledge on and whom you may pass it on to.
Collaboration is the Gateway to Change
One of the best ways to make change to collaborate with the people who have the power to make the change that you would like to see in the world. Even if they aren’t doing what you would want them to do, they might even be doing something you don’t like, treat them as you would treat a friend. Work side by side to improve the world we live in together. Many times the people, who are in control, aren’t the ones who made things the way they are, and they are trying to change things too. To love your enemy, is to love yourself.
Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Health & Safety
To keep you physically healthy and safe is not enough. One must develop conscious understanding of their own mind through watching their thoughts, and meditation. Use feeling words, and describe observations instead of giving perceptions of other people to reduce conflict and create mental safety for the people around you. Creating Spiritual health and safety is slightly more complex. Grounding yourself is one of the most important things to do to energize your spirit. Find places on the earth where you feel your sprit comes alive, and stay there for extended periods of time. Nurture these feelings and bring them with you wherever you go. Even try to replicate spaces where we can feel spiritually safe. Many people make their own homes and gardens sacred spaces by decorating them, blessing them, and cleaning. Make a little temple of your own.
Release to Relax, Forgive to Be Happy
Releasing blocked or stagnant energy is one of the most important things you can do. Especially when it is a grudge or negative feeling you have towards a place, person, or group of people. Forgiving is a magical art form, used to uplift the soul and bring you back into the present moment. We are not the ones who have destroyed the earth, or created the problems that exist in our society today. We can forgive those that have come before us, and move forward by accepting the responsibility to bring solutions. Walking long distances and cleaning are forms of meditation that can help you grow spiritually and connect with the world around you. If you feel uneasy, find the time to sit under a tree and learn about yourself.
Grounding Yourself in the Garden, You ARe What YOU Eat
Gardening is one of the best ways to ground yourself into the earth. Getting your hands dirty with soil is therapeutic to the touch. You also learn a lot about how your food ends up on your plate. One of the most important things you can do is cook a good meal at least a few times a week if not everyday. A diet just becomes a part of your life as you strive for good nutrition. Don’t be afraid of meat eaters, vegans, or even people who only eat raw foods. Try it sometimes, go on a fast too, have fun with your diet and cleanse yourself it feels great.
Look Inward to Find Common Sense
In the end, all of these ideas and these words of advice are just recommendations. Everyone will find their own actions to incorporate Sustainable Living into their unique experience. Only your own intuition can guide you in practice. When something just doesn’t feel right, use your common sense, or the common connection we all have to a greater knowledge of our world, to guide your actions

Section IV
Beyond Sustainable Living

Beyond Sustainable to Thriving Life

Why sustainable Living isn't enough
It is obvious that a common reoccurrence in creating a sustainable life style, especially for a collective society, is a deep need for evolved community. Yet building community isn't one hundred percent within the context of Sustainable Living. Community itself is a much larger realm of life where a collective is working together in a common context, not within a education experience, where argeed aupon morals and societal styles are alredy in place. . The realms of life can be different for each person, but the common relm is the rel of LIFE iteself, which is all of the other relms put together.
Beyond Sustainable to Thriving Life
It is not enough to just sustain the present state of the world. We must work to make ours society actually enhance the environment, society and economy simultainiously as we live. There are many ways to organize and understand the life of our planet, and each of our places within it. Every person could have a different way of doing so. How someone organizes his or her life is not what is important to Sustainable Living. What is important is that one can take it upon themselves to reorganize their relationship to the world to better understand it and be more effective in what they do. How I did this is of great importance, although it still my not be included in my thesis. Some of this work might be useful for comparative analysis. For example, Dreams are not always real, the Journey is everything in motion through a path, and Sustainability is the sustained existence of everything individually, and also collectively. Community and so forth becomes much more complex.
Balance of everything, beyond life itself? Connection back to sustainable living
The Solution to sustainability doesn't necessarily have anything to do with sustainability, or sustainable living. True solutions could be building community and supporting an active government that supports the earth.
Section V
Supplemental Information

Glossary

SEC:

CSSC:

UCSCSECCSSC:

ESLP:

Landfill: has two contexts, a place, or the places contents.

Realm of Life:

Outline Descriptions

Outlines haven’t been done yet

Index to Appendices

Outlines

Journal

First paper on "new" living and Sustainable Development

Paper on SEC

Other referenced work from organizations with index

Detailed Index Of Apendicies

Constitutions

Organizations

Government

Organization