Life in the green lane moves pretty fast… right when you think you have something figured out, another idea, product, or concept steps up to replace what you had thought was current.  A great example of this is the compact fluorescent light bulb… We’re led to believe that CFLs are the solutions to our energy inefficiency woes.  Truth is they are merely a gateway technology and will eventually be taken over by light emitting diodes.  LEDs are significantly more efficient than CFLs, last longer, and don’t have any mercury issues… all around a superior product.

On a larger scale we’re often told that sustainability is our ultimate goal…. universally defined, sustainability means ‘meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’  Sounds nice, right?  Sure thing… but in all honesty is it good enough?  Is the concept of sustainability leading us in the direction that we want to go, or is it like the compact fluorescent bulb, biding time before something better comes along?… Many are sensing that sustainability might just be a dead end street, and that a new model should be created that’s built not on sustaining, but thriving… let me introduce you to the concept of Thrivability!

To properly define thrivability, it helps to start by looking a bit deeper into sustainability, and why in theory it just isn’t cutting it… The core of the sustainability movement is about acknowledging that we’re in a hole, a crisis situation, in the negative… it aspires to get us back to zero.  Strategically, the approach to get us out of this hole has been about recognizing problems and developing appropriate solutions… all fine and dandy, but the issue here is that by focusing on problems we create a cap on what we can create.  It places our attention on patching and repairing, which limits our capabilities for true innovation, for building.  Along these lines, sustainability as a term is not very inspiring… rarely do we hear it used in other contexts of our daily lives.  ‘Things are great with the misses… our love life is sustainable!’… doesn’t sound quite right, eh?  If the terminology represents something that’s static or ‘blah’ in every other connotation, why would we have it signify the macro-perspective of our mission to find harmony with the planet?  Why align ourselves with a term that is disengaged, uninspired?

If sustainability is about asking the question ‘how do we fix the mess we’ve made?’, thrivability asks ‘what kind of world do we want to live in?’… and if sustainability is indeed about aspiring to get back to zero, thrivability asks, ‘what’s on the other side of zero?’  The concept is much more motivating, aspirational, idealistic, inspiring… it speaks beyond the bottom line.  It speaks about actively creating a future we want rather than responding to one that frightens us. Thrivability approaches this by transcending not only sustainability, but also social justice and consciousness.  It recognizes that without a holistic framework, meaningful change cannot be achieved.

As I’ve bummed around the interweb trying to learn more about thrivability, I delightfully discovered that the concept was grown organically.  It can be tracked back to several different sources, all with similar definitions and motives for intent.  It’s a true working testament to Victor Hugo’s statement that there is ‘nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.’  A single champion of thrivability is Jean Russell, who over the past several years has made it a central focus of hers.  She started a blog in early 2008, using it as a platform to sort out thoughts as they came.  A question that she addressed right away was, ‘what qualifies something as being thrivable?’  Her answer came in two parts: Is the something uplifting and held in a space of positivity? And metrically speaking, does the something measure out to a world of possibility (carbon neutral/positive) or does it consume and restrict in a way that promotes scarcity?… Independent from Ms. Russell’s personal quest, the Thrivability Institute (Thriv’in for short, love it!) in Ashland, Oregon has been developing an itinerary that is centered on sustainability, integrative systems design, quantum science, and heart-centered intelligence…. sounds interesting!

As I’m sure your sensing, thrivability is a bit abstract.  This will clearly be its biggest hurdle in gaining larger acceptance… How will it be measured and documented?  Will we be able to create certifiably thrivable communities, buildings, and transit systems?  How can we ensure it doesn’t become another word that gets greenwashed?  Or is it successful just as a conceptual idea, and nothing more?… and another issue that needs to be addressed (which I hinted at earlier) is our deep commitment to problems.  Environmentalists and progressives in particular have a long history of focusing their energy on what doesn’t work.  Thrivability is a completely new foundation and thought process… it wouldn’t be a quick and easy transition into this mindset of possibility.  On the plus side, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel for it to take hold… there are already incredible efforts being made today that would classify as being thrivable.  The Living Building Challenge, going waste-free with Cradle to Cradle, the Biomimicry Institute, Worldchanging blog, Muhammad Yunus’ microfinancing, Project H… all are working examples and can help inspire us to further action.

This concept really struck a chord with me for a number of reasons … first and foremost, it basically landed on my lap as my own business is named Thrive Design Studio (suweet, right?)… secondly, the ideas thrivability presents align perfectly with my personal mission… I totally dig on the proactive approach, that we are in charge of creating our own future, and that it takes a holistic, conscious perspective to create meaningful change… and this focus on positivity can’t be stressed enough either.  Traditional ‘doom and gloom’ environmentalism does not engage people to action… it depresses and overwhelms them.  Like the great Bucky Fuller said, ‘You never change things by fighting the existing reality.  To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete’… so what do you think, does thrivability have the tools or traction to be a game changer?  Can you visualize it someday replacing sustainability, or at least playing in the same sandbox?

-j

About Joshua Foss


Josh is a leading green building, design, and lifestyle expert. He is the editor of Metro Hippie, principal of Thrive Design Studio and adjunct faculty at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He is also a volunteer presenter for the Living Building Challenge and is a frequent speaker at national conferences, trade shows and summits.