Sustainable Relationship

The phrase "sustainable relationship" was introduced to the world by the publisher of this web site in his masters thesis in 1996. I have not seen this phrase used elsewhere and I believe it is worth exploring. It is quite different than "sustainable development", the original expression, and is also different than "sustainability", which is the dominant term today.

There are two prerequisites of a sustainable relationship that I would like to present. The first is that the relationship must be direct. The second is that a sustainable relationship is based on continuous shared experiences.

By direct, I mean face to face, in the first person, physical to physical. For us human beings and nature, this means going out into the sun and wind and snow and rain, up hills - down streams - across canyons, in the day and night, summer - fall - winter - spring. Being in one place and experiencing all of nature's moods so that we feel all that is going on there. We cannot get this from the Nature Channel or National Geographic or Ansel Adams photos or any of the other ways most people get their nature. It also means that we get out of our cars and buses and off our bikes. Feel what it means to move where there are no sidewalks or paths. To be in place not designed by people for people, a place not designed to entertain or protect us. A place that exists for its own purposes.

The second prerequisite follows naturally from the first. The relationship is built over time with small interactions that gather weight within us. We begin to know the place in its many moods and to look upon it as a friend. As the relationship builds layer upon layer we can find a way to fit in, to be a part of it.

But, we can only go part way down this path, only glimpse the distant goal, because most of us will not be sustaining our lives through this relationship - our food and water and shelter will still be provided by other places. We will still be tourists. It is a beginning. And, if we can learn to do this with some place near us, then we can appreciate the relationships distant people have in distant lands, and help them protect those relationships against the excesses of the consumer society.