Cambodia forum

Before I add my comment about the term sustainable, I want to say that the concept being pursued by PEPY Tours is admirable. Thanks Stuart for bringing these tours to our collective attention.

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I have an axe to grind over the term sustainable.

Wiktionary defines the term as able to be sustained for an indefinite period without damaging the environment, or without depleting a resource.

Like the term 'sustainability', sustainable is increasingly being used more to attract market share than actually deliver an outcome that over the long term is ongoing, resource depletion neutral, and environmentally impact positive.

Because the term sustainable is fashionable, we get inundated with marketing crap focussing on how one aspect of the product can be perceived as socially or environmentally helpful. In so doing, the marketers fail to also show the negative feedback problems.

The fact is that global warming is telling us that our fossil fuel dependant lifestyle is wreaking havoc. And, that collectively, we have to address this immense problem. In part, the term sustainability was initially used by environmentalists to differentiate between unsustainable negative feedback mechanisms, and sustainable positive feedback ones. To that end, the term sustainable was used to both describe a concept and as a contrast (for education).

My 'axe' issue is that the term sustainable has been hijacked by the marketing department, and in so doing the term is fast losing credibility in the mind of the public. But worse, like similar 'must use' phrases, the term will become so degraded in the broader public mind that the very reason for the use of the term becomes lost.

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I want to add that PEPY do not use the term sustainable to promote their product. Rather, their logo is
Adventurous Living. Responsible Giving.

In fact, from their website, I can only see the term sustainable used in relation to matters unrelated to the PEPY product (albeit as an outcome).

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Apologies for being a bit cranky over the term sustainable, but I believe we should collectively be 'defending' the term as it was originally meant - to differentiate between types of human resource use activities.

Cheers