Imagining Sustainability: Infrastructure Overhaul as an Opportunity for Societal Reinvention

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. Many people, with general human welfare in mind, are working to reinvent society. The state of Nevada offers rebates for property owners in Las Vegas who replace grass lawns with desert-appropriate alternatives like gravel and native plants, helping out our pollinator friends at the same time as reducing water waste. The Inflation Reduction Act requires that workers receive good wages for clean energy projects to receive tax credits (it was nice while it lasted). 

This week, I’ve been excited to imagine with Pastors Kelly and Jessica what possibilities a more sustainable Saguaro campus might bring to our church. We’re getting ready to apply for the Community Foundation of Southern Arizona’s Nonprofit Solar Grant, which matches private donors with nonprofits to undertake solar energy projects. The grant asks how we would use energy savings from solar to benefit underserved folks in our community. We have lots of ideas. With lower energy bills, we could air condition the church during the week to be used as a summer cooling center. We could upgrade our HVAC and do an energy audit to further reduce our energy use. We could increase scholarships for the preschoolers.

Many more non-profits apply for the grant than receive it. But I’d like us to go ahead and imagine: if we reinvent our church’s energy use, what else might we want to reinvent at the same time? We may find that grant or no grant, we are called to deepen our work in new ways. 

Warbler’s Wisdom is a weekly column by Jocelyn Hartley, our Creation and Justice Fellow from Disciples Home Mission and Green Chalice.