What I do today, needs to be sustained through to tomorrow and the next day. In this blog I reflect on taking a holistic stance to sustainability.

I’ve been on my path for 5 days now. I’ve travelled some 140km. There has been struggle – feet, blisters, aches, hunger…But I’m getting into my stride and early anxieties about what will come of this journey are fading. I left Edinburgh on Friday afternoon. It was a smooth start as I was well seen off by my wife and also accompanied by a good friend for a few days. We met many people, and chatted about many things. Life enriching stuff.

I’ve been heading East along the John Muir Way. And what a perfect way to begin my journey on foot! Not just because the Lothian coast is serene, but John Muir brings to sharp focus an essential ingredient of journeying – making sure that what is done today doesn’t take away from tomorrow…or for that matter anyone else’s tomorrow (non-humans included). And I mean that in a deeply holistic sense. It’s not just our actions around the environment, but also our health, our relationships, and many other vital areas of life.

Sucking the marrow out of life?

John Muir, who’s path I’ve been walking upon, was a world-famous Scottish-born American naturalist. He is regarded as the “Father of the National Parks”, owing to his role in preserving of the Yosemite Valley and Sequoia National Park in the US, which paved the way to the preservation of many other wilderness areas across the world.

One of my favourite stories about John Muir is when he once tied himself to a tree during a storm simply to understand what it was like to be a tree. A man who wanted to, in his own words, “live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life…”

The vibrancy of those words has been with me ever since I passed through Dunbar on Monday. It is where the John Muir Way ends and there is a lovely museum dedicated to him in what was once his childhood home. Am I sucking the marrow of life? Perhaps not yet, it is still early on, but I sense I might get a good taste.

Sustainability as it applies to nature

John Muir’s approach to protecting nature was one of conservation – protecting plants, animals, and natural areas from damage, particularly with regard to human activity. Sustainability, on the other hand, which is about using resources in a responsible way such that they aren’t irrevocably depleted, wasn’t so relevant in the 19th Century in John’s time. He certainly would have understood the idea, but sustainability is more of an idea of the late 20th century. Its relevance to our lives will only grow. As will, I hope, the concept of sufficiency – tuning in to what is enough.

Most of us will appreciate how sustainability relates to nature. One reason as to why I’m walking, for example, is that it’s about as low impact as one can get when it comes to moving about our planet. It doesn’t take away from mine or anyone else’s capacity to live well in the future. I’m treading lightly, flattening grass for a short while, that I trust will spring back to life tomorrow.

Sustainability throughout life

But sustainability doesn’t only apply to our natural resources. It applies to other aspects of our lives too – not least our health and our relationships. Like nature, both are essential to a life well-lived. And if we also draw down heavily on them – to continuously take more than we are giving – then they will be at risk too.

For example, if I walk too much today, it will make tomorrow a little more difficult. If I keep on pushing myself beyond my capacity every single day, which I probably have done, then I might pick up an injury and perhaps my walking journey will end. Likewise, if I don’t take care of those I love as I journey onward, asking too much of them emotionally in my absence, then perhaps they will become frustrated and maybe even disappear from my life altogether. It needs to be possible to sustain today’s actions indefinitely, otherwise our wellbeing is under threat.

Balance, mindfulness, and sufficiency

But it doesn’t just stop there when it comes to sustainability, because we also need to think about balance. Unfortunately, sustainability in one area of life does not make up for a lack elsewhere. In making my journey sustainable from nature’s perspective, it puts pressures on other areas of my life. I don’t want to be away for too long, as I need to honour my relationships, but I don’t want to rush through to get back and risk overstretching myself. There would be no happiness that way.

Of course, I could just take the train to London, as I’ve done so many times before, but that’s no journey – that’s just arrival at a destination and I’ve done that many times.

And so, I have to be mindful of the pressures I exert on planet, people, and my body. Each step I take matters. And whilst I cannot know precise limits, I must be aware that there are indeed limits. Rather than push myself to those limits (possibly driven on more by fear and anxiety than a desire to reach my not very inspiring final destination), I must keep on checking in and ask myself whether what I am doing each day is sufficient, that it is enough to meet my needs. To neither have limits, nor recognise what is enough, puts my wellbeing and the wellbeing of others at risk. We must embed balance, mindfulness, and sufficiency as early on as possible on a journey, in a life. That’s what helps important things last…

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”

***I’m currently walking from Edinburgh to Croydon where I grew up. You can find out more about my journey on this page.