In previous newsletters, I’ve written that the structure of modern society precludes sustainable living. To live sustainably in modern society, we must actively choose sustainability in every aspect of our lives, and in so doing go against the grain of the entirety of society. And even for those who make sustainability their life’s work, that is simply too much to ask. But for a moment today, let’s free our minds from what is and allow our imaginations to explore what could be: what if sustainable living was a given instead of something we had to actively choose? What if, in this new sustainable society, we reduced income disparity? Increased access to healthy, affordable food? Addressed driving factors of immigration? 

We know we must overhaul our society’s infrastructure if we want to mitigate further environmental catastrophes. But this overhaul is the perfect opportunity to reinvent our society.  While we reconstruct the literal structures of our society–our housing, roads, farms, power plants, cities, we also have the opportunity to reconstruct our social and economic structures. 

The good news is, the possibilities that come with societal reinvention are not purely figments of our imagination.