How can urban systems improve?
To whom is sustainability important?
.
Us, that’s whom. We are normal people going to Costco.
We bought the sport utility truck for the safety of our children.
We are ourselves practical.
.
We didn’t get the SUV to wreck the planet.
The highways aren’t safe, is all, and extra mass counts.
We’ll scale down soon because gas is killing us.
It’s easier knowing everyone is hurting for more mileage.
.
Our mortgage is rather new.
We chose our neighborhood from others like it.
We drove from suburb to suburb, looking for deals.
“Too far,” we had winced at one of the listings.
But went to see it anyway.
.
I understand this word, sure.
“Can we sustain our operations?”
Can the company go the distance, or will it go broke?
You see people run out of steam all the time, dead cold.
Sustainability is about keeping it lukewarm, ready to go.
.
They say diet, exercise, and leafy greens are key.
We bought a treadmill.
.
It’s a terrible shame about the oil.
They’ll come up with something to replace it, I’m sure.
Something to power the faster life of the future.
Clean and quiet, something invisible.
.
Cities are fun.
We have friends living all over the country.
We moved around before we had the kids:
Chicago, Boston. We lived in Tacoma, Washington.
Rome would be a great vacation.
.
Climate change will affect our children.
We didn’t let our kids watch the Al Gore movie, but we watched it.
There are so many problems in the world.
It’s scary what our children will inherit.
We must invest in their future.
.
This piece was written by Project Manager Richard Young, SustainLane.
