Sustainability one – or more – steps further
I wa just reading a post on the Worldchanging website (Subscribe yourself to their newsletter, every time with 4 good posts – it keeps you updated on what is going on on the positive side these days). The post makes clear what is the difference between sustainability and thrivability.
The word thrivability is made famous by Jean Russell and her blog by exactly this name.
Its definition could be:
“our path out of unsustainable practices toward a world where all people have a high quality of life, a voice, and a nurturing earth supporting them. Using whole systems approach, it demands that we evolve our way of being together, of collaborating, so that our collective wisdom and action bring forth a flourishing world and thriving life.”
Maybe at first sight the difference with sustainability isn’t that great. But here is what Arthur Brock wrote:
Thrivability builds on itself. It is a cycle of actions which reinvest energy for future use and stretch resources further. It transcends sustainability by creating an upward spiral of greater possibilities and increasing energy. Each cycle builds the foundation for new things to be accomplished.
Thrivability emerges from the persistent intention to create more value than you consume. When practiced over time this builds a world of ever increasing possibilities.
This difference links with a dissertation abstract The Rediscovery of Place that I read recently, written by Nick Wang, in which he points out the differences between psychological levels in how we deal with place.
He names as third level (level 1 and 2 are not so interesting in this regard): The Psychology of Wholeness, a living systems actualisation – which goes beyond a self-actualisation. It is the capacity to co-evolve in harmony with the greater living systems. “At this level humans actively work to help enable and even improve the workings of natural living systems.” “This goes beyond the vision of creating ‘green’, energy self-sufficient cities to that of creating urban socio-ecological landscapes that are integral members and contributors to the ecological systems in which they exist.”
And recently he has added a next level, which even goes further, called The Psychology of Spiritualization, which is about field regeneration, or about to spiritualize existence. “With each place there is a right action that best coalesces with the spirit of that place.”
It is good that people start seeing beyond sustainability, beyond just surviving. The new paradigm is much more than that. It is about Radical Collaboration, but which much more than other businesses or people… with the whole of life I guess.