The Intersection Between Sustainability and Capitalism

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Let's Define Sustainability

There are several ways to define sustainability or sustainable development. The United Nations Brundtland Commission defined sustainability as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Another one of my favorite definitions is by the UCLA Sustainability Committee [1].

The committee defined sustainability as the integration of environmental health, social equity, and economic vitality to create thriving, healthy, diverse, and resilient communities for the present and future generations [2].

Sustainability became a working concept in the United States in the late 1970s. However, I believe it has always been practiced before the modern world defined it. Indigenous people have always had sustainable practices passed down from generation to generation to protect the environment.

They understood the relationship between humanity and the environment. It is a constant cycle of give and take, a symbiotic relationship. Indigenous people took care of the land, and the land returned the favor.

They have intricate knowledge of nature and its ecosystems, so practices like crop rotation, polyculture, agroforestry, building flood-resistant structures, and excellent water management systems help maintain a safe balance within the interconnectedness of our existence.

For example, the indigenous people of New Zealand, the Maori, temporarily restrict access to an area to facilitate ecosystem recoveries. It is an ancient method of resource management, which we refer to as environmental conservation in the modern world [3].

Similarly, Iran and other areas in the Middle East have created a Qanat irrigation system, which consists of underground water channels that carry water from aquifers to farmlands. This water management system reduces evaporation and ensures a constant water supply in dry regions [3].

Overall, Indigenous people do not exploit the environment for its resources— a necessary precaution that humans have neglected since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, a.k.a, capitalism.

Capitalism is the reason behind the development of the concept of sustainability. The concept of sustainability was introduced to curb capitalism's effects on Earth’s ecosystems and organisms, including the human race.

How did capitalism create the need for sustainability?

Capitalism is an economic system in which individuals and companies privately own the means of production. Investments, prices, and production are based on private decisions, and the free market primarily determines the distribution of capital goods. A capitalist system features a two-class system split: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and is marked by market competition, profit orientation, private ownership, and minimal government intervention.

I believe capitalism to be an enabler of greed, but a school of thought thinks otherwise. They blame the greedy nature of this primarily exploitative system on the market pressure. An instance is Vivek Chibber, author of Confronting Capitalism: How the World Works and How to Change It, who believes capitalists cause harm solely because of brutal market competition [4].

Ben Burgis also says in his book Jacobin that the capitalist drive to accumulate money isn’t primarily about individual capitalists being bad, greedy people but rather about the relentless pressures of the system itself [4].

Essentially, both authors believe that capitalists are exploitative because a capitalist who doesn’t ruthlessly pursue profits will be outcompeted by those who do. My problem with this can be seen in the capitalist billionaires who own most of the production means worldwide.

Billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Stewart and Lynda Resnick, and many more are incredibly profit-oriented—only their profit, power, and assets matter. They choose to maximize their profit irrespective of the cost to the environment. It's not the market pressures that force them to exploit people and the environment; they choose to do that. It reflects humanity’s voracious hunger that breeds the need for money-grubbing tactics, even among the poor.

Now, the two classes of capitalism, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, are stuck in a rat race chasing the almighty dollar. The working class is also an enabler of the bourgeoisie money making tactics via consumerism and the endless hope to be like the latter.

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