Why it matters to clarify what sustainability is, as something humans can experience in flesh and bone.
Where I was born in French Limousin, houses have underground cellars. “La cave” is where certain foodstuffs and wine can be kept fresh and alive for longer periods of time, in ideally dark and cool conditions. We need a flashlight to go down and get anything from there. Thanks to the flashlight, we uncover a whole ecosystem and its details: nicely aligned preserved fruit jars on wooden shelves; large boxes of potatoes, apples, and parsnips; aging Bordeaux bottles on racks; spiders; salamanders; fungi.
Something abstract is something that has a certain appearance, like the word “cellar” (the sound of it, or the graphic representation of its written letters), a symbol, or a Rothko painting. But that word or thing represents a whole other world of more detailed and very concrete things that are contained in it, hidden from sight. We must unpack, unzip the file labeled with that name (word, sentence, icon), to reveal the world it represents and see all its content. Ah… Now I see what you mean! (Sigh of relief).
In conversation, to clarify is to make clear. It is the process of unzipping a file, which is labeled with one word or string of words, and to direct light on all that is hidden behind that word, so that it all becomes visible. I mean this quite literally: we can then see things. What was abstract now appears as concrete and tangible. What was a purely “wordy” thought now also has form. It can be lived, experienced. Otherwise, the animals that we human beings are would not be able to relate to it or do anything with that file.
“Justice”, unaccompanied by visual details, is an abstraction. So is “freedom” or “equity”. The truth is that any word can be an abstraction to some people. If you have never seen a rose, not even in a picture, the word ‘rose’ is an abstraction to you.
So, what on Earth is “sustainability”? Ask ten people, and you will get ten different meanings.
If you are a sustainability professional, how do you make “sustainability” so clear and tangible that all your audiences can see what you mean as if they were there, all see the same thing, and rush to make it happen with you effortlessly and enthusiastically?