Sustainability Is Not The Answer

Posted by Jeff Scult on


Privileged beyond measure, I have been invited to the UN and other think tanks to listen to leaders talk about the Global Sustainability Goals. And my deep dive in understanding how man is polluting the planet through the clothes we wear was at the Global Sustainability Conference in Copenhagen in 2017.
Something was off for me at both. I anticipated feeling elation, elevation, as we are the change we came here to be. Yet I felt flat.
And then it occurred to me. It felt like circular conversations, and slow solutions. Why? It started at the top: The top of the page - "Sustainability."
Is this the least inspiring word, goal, and outcome - even if successful? Think if you sent your child off to school with that mantra: "Son, bring it home, that C average."

Sustainability is just another word for maintainability. We can, and must do better, because status quo will not get us out of this mess.

Let's change the mast-head to regenerative practices, and see where we go from there, to put back more than we take. 
Here is our take on regeneration for the UN goals we touch:

"Ensuring healthy lives & promoting well-being at all ages is essential." 

So many humans have forgotten how to feel. We believe the greatest plague to humanity is loneliness - and the Pandemic has exacerbated this with actual “aloneliness” due to reduced human touch and connection. Our mission is to promote planetary well-being by reminding we are golden inside, a part of the unbroken golden thread that connects us all, via touch-texture threads. What we put on our bodies, is as important as what we put in our bodies. It's time we care for our largest organ, our skin, with materials that replenish us in a natural way. 

 

"Decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, increase resource efficiency and promote sustainable lifestyles."

How do we disrupt among the World’s most extractive, polluting, over-consumed industries - Fast Fashion? By taking a stand for responsible consumption, embracing a living philosophy of minimalism, educating about owning less things that you love more, owning for life versus disposing over seasons, resetting the relationship of value over price by illuminating the real cost of cheap fast fashion, and moving beyond sustainability as a goal to promoting regenerative practices - what we call RE:generation.

We embrace a production philosophy where we do not overproduce and chase with marketing and sales. Instead, consistent hand-craft, small-batch production, hand-stitched versus automated machines. Our one golden supply chain stands for fair wage, child-free, and eco-centric. 


 

"Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere rose to new records in 2019, necessitating urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts."

Undeniable facts point to the fastest, most effective way to address climate change is to plant trees. Reforestation is One Golden Thread’s environmentally regenerative impact, working through our NGO-Partner One Tree Planted. From one Beech Tree, we make 108 articles of clothing. Every purchase plants a tree. Thus 1 to 108x impact. Further, our source materials will biodegrade back to Earth, thus not further polluting our soils and plasticizing our Oceans.

"Ocean acidification is having an adversarial effect on the functioning of ecosystems and biodiversity." 

38% of micro plastics in the ocean come from tossing and washing polyester clothing. Micro-plastics pollute sea life, thus we are eating plastic. Ocean condensation rises, "Nano plastics" airborne, our unchecked future will include breathing plastic. One Golden Thread’s nature-sourced clothing supports a healthy planet, including sea life. 

"Nature plays a major role in the fight against climate change." 

One Golden Thread follows the lead from regenerative agriculture that soil is soul. Our clothing, in the unlikely event disposed, will not harm Earth. Tencel may actually be placed in the Earth, and it will eventually “compost,” and until then do no harm. We see the trees. Our model regenerates, each purchase plants a tree. 

"A successful development agenda requires a shared vision and shared goals placing people and the planet at the centre."

We partner with stakeholders who also embody a clean supply chain, and our connective thread between innovation (Lenzing Ethical Innovation) and regeneration (NGO One Tree Planted) creates an infinite loop of nature and us as one. Values-aligned to a golden world, all partners embrace a regenerative mindset that goes beyond sustainability.  

Innovation from nature, connecting to one’s inner-nature, with a model that replenishes nature. This is our elemental eco-system borne from an “ethos-system," a golden philosophy of living, accented by "we go" over ego clothes.

We stand for all the UN SDGoals to be elevated within a filter of regeneration - and yes, regeneration begins within, each of us. 

Thank you for reading,

Jeff Scult

Founder, One Golden Thread

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