In a rapidly changing world, with climatic, technological, and social shifts, choosing sustainability is the only way to reshape our relationship with ourselves, others, and the Planet, and to allow a generous future for us and new generations. Sustainability can be approached from different perspectives — health, environmental, economic, sociocultural, and technological — but the first paradigm shift is undoubtedly the inner one, which can only arise from deep self-awarenessIl termine autoconsapevolezza si riferisce primariamente all... More and reflection on our true needs, the essence of happinessHappiness represents an emotional state characterized by pos... More, and our role in the world.
Inner Sustainability and Justice
Today, when we talk about sustainability, we refer to the possibility of
maintaining the Human-Planet system, which humanity itself is causing to falter, with repercussions across all areas of life, including economic, health, and environmental impacts.
Central to sustainability is the human dimension and also social justice, allowing every human being to live “in a healthy, socially just, and economically active environment”, as suggested by Professor Francesco Regoli, coordinator of the Pharmasea project monitoring sea pollution from pharmaceutical residues, emphasizing the multidimensional nature of sustainability, encompassing environmental, economic, and social aspects.
The first step toward sustainability becomes education for inner sustainability, as highlighted by Elena Perolfi, Vice President of the Patrizio Paoletti Foundation and head of the foundation’s pedagogical, didactic, and training projects, during her speech at the recent Sostenibilizziamoci.4 event, held on April 1 at the Teatro Sociale in Como. Elena Perolfi stressed how humans can overcome the reactivity and automatisms typical of the instinctive reptilian brain and the emotional limbic brainThe emotional limbic brain occupies a significant position i... More, thanks to the neocortex, the most recently evolved part of our brain:
When we consciously engage our prefrontal cortexThe prefrontal cortex plays a fundamental role in numerous p... More, we are physiologically less reactive, less impulsive, less violent. Activating this area disables the automatic aggression circuit and enables cooperationThe silent force that holds human groups together Cooperatio... More, emotional regulation, and ethical choice. Sustainable behavior is, for us, access to an internal function: a place in the mind that, if inhabited, allows us to suspend impulse and direct action. This area of the brain does not activate on its own: it must be trained, methodically and continuously. But the reward is immense: it is here that sustainable behavior becomes possible, and it is from here that change can originate.
You can watch Elena Perolfi’s full speech at Sostenibilizziamoci.4 in this video:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivZD6fNqVIQ[/embedyt)]
A Secret of Sustainability
To deeply understand the secret of sustainability, it is often helpful to reflect on the etymology of the word itself.
Sustainability comes from
to sustain, describing
the ability to “hold something or someone aloft, above us”. To allow ourselves to “hold something aloft,” at least two symbolic actions are necessary.
Raise and Train Your Arms, Act in Time
The first action is to raise the arms, which we can metaphorically relate to personal active and proactive commitment to lift what must be sustained. Naturally, our arms must be trained and nourished, and what we support must not be too heavy for them. This detail reminds us of two key themes: on one hand, the importance of training for sustainability, including strengthening personal and community resources from childhood and adolescence, and on the other, the importance of acting before the burden becomes unsustainable, learningIl termine apprendimento - con i sinonimi imparare, assimila... More to read the signals of the context we are immersed in and moving in time.
True sustainability is always a balance between what we can do and what needs to be done. When this balance is lost, and our strength is too weak or the weight too heavy, sustainability cannot exist.
Downsize Ourselves
The second action to “hold something aloft” is downsizing ourselves, i.e., understanding positive interdependence and deliberately choosing a lower position to hold something extremely important above our heads. True sustainability is an antidote to pride and always requires an act of downsizing and humility, bringing us back to our original dimension as living, sentient beings within Nature, which is the framework in which true happiness can develop best.
Let's train emotional intelligenceThe first definition of Emotional Intelligence as such was p... More: what emotion does this article arouse in you?
