SUSTAINABILITY SLANG

Sustainability Slang is a poem (of sorts) that shows how little the language of sustainable development has entered our society's lexicon and our culture's psyche.

SUSTAINABILITY SLANG

How can we talk sustainability
without learning the language first?

How come we expect sustainability
without teaching the language first?

And how come everyone gets their own language
except us sustainable development "homeys"?

Like ...

Integration for the nation, sister. We don't talk profits
without talkin' people and planet, too.

Yo, knock it off. That just ain't
intergenerationally equitable, ya know?

Think it through, man. If you want my buy-in, what you're proposin's
gotta be fair to our brothers and sisters in developin' nations, too.

No way. We ain't payin' for that! Polluter pays, dude.

Have a seat 'round my round table, friends.
It's the only cool way to make things happen.

You wanna step outside for a little
multi-stakeholder consultation in the parking lot?

Hey, man, slow down. The precautionary principle rules around here!

If what we do is what we can think, and what we think is what we can say, then we've got to start people talking the language of sustainability and respect for everyone, of every species, for all time.

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