SUSTAINABLE
adjective | sus·tain·able | sə-ˈstā-nə-bəl
- Capable of being sustained
- Of, or relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged
- Of, or relating to, a lifestyle involving the use of sustainable methods
This year the WAM Collective is shifting our focus to sustainability. Most often, when one thinks of sustainability, the ever-present threat of climate change and environmental degradation comes to mind. Environmental sustainability is a growing concern in our culture, a concern that the WAM Collective shares. However, environmental sustainability is not the only type of sustainability we are interested in. We are interested personal sustainability, social sustainability, economic sustainability, and environmental sustainability, and how all of those things play into the quality of student life. Over the next 12 months of WAM Collective programming and events, we are focusing on taking steps to sustain ourselves and our relationships with others in order to sustain our goals, our impact, and our community.
To sustain something, one needs to invest time and effort into caring for it. The guidelines and tactics for sustainability aren’t as clear cut as “re-use, reduce, recycle”. Rather, they vary depending on who is doing the sustaining and what they want to sustain. We look forward to spending the next year exploring what sustainability looks like in the context of the University of Minnesota, the Weisman Art Museum, and the WAM Collective.
