With the Olympic games here in Vancouver, sustainability seems to be a buzz word given to just about everything. It got me thinking: what is sustainability and how can we make it last.

When I consider it, I ask: will people in a hundred years be able to do this? Will my great-grandchildren be able to do what I do or have the choices I have? If not, what choices do I have to make now in order to give future generations the same options I had.

Unlike some, I don’t believe technology will inevitably save the day (or the world). We can and should invest in green technology. That is a public choice that will provide us better options down the road, but it will not be equal to or greater than the poor choices we make today. I believe that our choices make our future and all come with a cost - paid now or paid later. If paid later, usually with interest.

To me, sustainability means making choices that can be repeated for generations.

So what will help make us good choices now? This is tantamount to the original question – how do we keep sustainability sustained? This is a tough question.

Fear? But it begets gloom, despair, and paralysis. Not a good choice.

Knowledge helps. At this point, however, it seems that we all get that our present situation is not repeatable, expandable, or sufficient for future generations. Call it collective intuition, but we know things can’t go on as they do.

Action is best. Not necessarily the world shattering, lets start a green revolution kind of action (revolutions seldom last), but more simple stuff.

Make one extra right choice a week and keep it. Make little changes in your routine. And, demand one extra right choice in your world: be it your city councilor, or bank, or workplace, or grocer, or contractor, or whoever.

Be change and demand change. Not much to ask, really. Little changes change everything. And, they are sustainable.