Sustainability: Introduction
Part one of four: In an ever-changing world, what are we trying to sustain?
Sustainability is a term riddled among a wide array of today’s eco-centric rhetoric in order to brand certain businesses as clean or “green” and positively influence media attention. But what does it truly mean for a business to implement sustainable practices? By definition alone, “sustainability” simply means to be maintained at a certain rate or level. Applying this to environmental consciousness and business practices, we must then reflect upon what exactly we are trying to sustain. Are we merely trying to maintain current levels of plastic pollution, carbon emissions and the subsequent rate of environmental degradation? When we are collectively facing a global force like climate change, recycling and switching to energy efficient light bulbs only go so far in addressing an issue that is intricately intertwined within all of our lives. Similarly, placing the responsibility of a collective issue largely on the shoulders of individuals rather than on corporate interests only further perpetuates environmental injustice concerns.
However, the manner in which businesses decide to conduct themselves can indeed have significant impacts within both local and global communities as a result of the sheer amount of lives—both human and non-human—that are touched in the making of a single establishment, large or small. Because of this, rather than superficially branding ourselves as a “green” business, Le Petit Bistro is utilizing this concept of sustainability to catalyze collective action and change within our community. We are passionately committing ourselves to implementing and upholding meaningful practices that will help us foster prosperous and mutually beneficial relationships between humans and our surrounding natural world for generations to come. Stay tuned for a series of blog posts exploring our environmental projects and partners while we continue to unpack what exactly Le Petit Bistro is aspiring to sustain!
Cheers!
McKenna Shultz