Sustainability

Sustainability is a hot button topic right now. Almost every country has shown some interest in getting involved with the sustainability movement at the risk of being looked at as wasteful and environmentally unfriendly. Even the US government has begun backtracking on their previously denying of global warming. But what is sustainability really? Many people associate sustainability with being green however that is only one small part of the total picture.

According to the three leading sustainability organizations, Hugsmovement.org, Sustainablebusiness.org, and SustainAbility.com, sustainability is founded upon three pillars. These pillars are Social, Environment and Economic sustainability and they represent the triple bottom line of not only corporations but individuals and their households as well. It's not enough to just focus on one area because each pillar are vital to our survival on this planet.

HUGS Movement has focused on using entertainment to educate the world on sustainability through concerts, events and the social media. The organization was started by several individuals from entertainment, non profit and telecommunications sector. Much of their success as come from being facilitators for the public voice. "Endusers are the key", says Leveious Rolando, a founding partner of the HUGS Movment. "The world is shifting from a command and control to more collaborative dynamics. Many companies will have to embrance this. South Korea is leading te world in this but much of the western world especially the US remain resistant to this change."

As the world abroad prepares for the shift, many US companies try to hold on and maintain monolithic thinking patterns which will eventually affect their bottom line in the future. "It's really about changing the way you perceive the world", says Gibran Burchett another founder of the HUGS Movement. "HUGS stands for Healing Us Globally Sustainably. This means doing the most we can in all three areas of sustainability. It's not enough to just pay attention to the environment the way we do business, educate our youth and handle healthcare has to see some dramatic changes. Otherwise we will be stuck in a cycle of destruction for civilization."

This way of viewing the world isn't anything new. Sustainability has been around since ancient Egypt and help to propel many civilizations to their height in power. From the Roman empire building roads and aquaducts to the Moors masive building of public baths, and open education systems promoting literacy to all citizens. There are many things we can learn from past civilizations.

Globalization is now forcing us to compete with other countries and in order to do so we must embrace sustainability and technology in order to keep up with the rest of the world.