r/sustainability

We think we know how to solve the population crisis — end poverty through economic growth and birth rates fall. It has worked every single time it's been tried.

But economic growth solves the population crisis by creating two worse ones. Growth-driven consumption accelerates ecological overshoot, pushing us further beyond planetary boundaries. And the same rise in living standards that reduces birth rates hollows out the demographic base modern economies depend on.

So we're trapped.

Don't end poverty and the population keeps growing.

End it through growth and you get ecological collapse and a pension crisis that could bankrupt nations.

This isn't a policy failure — it's a structural one. And the only way out is through a post growth economy designed to meet human needs within ecological limits rather than expand indefinitely beyond them.

Starting small, i have not touched or fully drunk an actual plastic water bottle in months. And i have been drinking only water since november, yay!

I love botany, so a good lot of my nutrition has actually came from it, in return it also forced me to learm how to cook a few months back.

I actively engage with the reuse, repair, recycle slogan. I am selling things i do not need anymore, and i never overconsume, i believe it is just extra clutter.

I look for and only buy high quality items, i only secondhand shop, but i havent bought any clothes in months. I am also looking in to this beautiful, awesome car.. the scion IQ.

I am so worried about our planet, i plan to start sourcing only from local foraging and farms, i live in SC so it is even easier.

I know that this is barely a drop in the bucket, can i vote? What can i support? How can i support? As i grow and i am finally released from the grasp of having to live in a modern, mentally unwell american household.. i feel it will only get BETTER.

How ?? I really want to live a sustainable life. People who are already living a sustainable life, please give me some suggestions.

My faith community is handing out water bottles with the crazy temperatures. I started looking for bulk aluminum water bottles or cans. I avoid plastic since aluminum is more recyclable and less harmfull when discarded.

I've found a few sources for bulk delivery of canned water. Even when buying a 1000 at once it cost more per can than buying canned Coke.

1. What's up with canned water costing more than canned soda?
2. Any good sources for 1000+ canned water?

A year ago I moved to China. A big reason was because I really struggled to make a survivable wage in my own country, however, here I am upper middle class.

However, my mum has visited me 3 times in the past year. This makes me feel really guilty because I feel responsible for her massive carbon emissions (our country is far away.)

I have asked her if she would mind sticking to once a year but for a longer time because I am concerned about the environment, but she just ignored that and answered another question in my message.

I feel like I need to go back, but my life is insanely better here.

I recently realized how many paper napkins and towels we go through every day, especially as I spend a good 5 minutes blowing my nose every morning, and my husband often uses a paper kitchen towel to wipe stuff down even though there is usually a microfiber cloth on the sink (it does sometimes get dirty or smelly though) . How did you handle this switch? How do you deal with the dirty cloths before you have enough to wash them?

My mom needs me to figure out what to do with her nice suitcase which has one missing wheel. It’s the kind with a dual caster wheel on each corner and the one that’s missing isn’t on the handle side so you can still tip it and pull it like a regular roller bag. Any ideas? Donate it to Goodwill perhaps?

I’ve been in the nature tech space for around a year. I haven’t got a background in ecology, conservation, data science or building technology companies. My own background is in fashion.

I’m co founding the business with two commercial co founders. We have experience energy infrastructure, commercial strategy, ESG, but none of us are ecologist, remote sensing experts, technologists etc.

I’ve spent time trying to understand biodiversity monitoring, Earth observation, ground-truthing, corporate nature risk and the conservation landscape. The more I learn, the more I realise how much I don’t know…

The companies I admire have strong technical and scientific founding teams like NatureMetrics, Pivotal Earth etc…

Can three commercially minded founders build something meaningful in the space? Or is ecological or technical expertise something that has to exist in the founding team? We see it as approaching the platform with the “beginners mind” concept… seeing it from outside the box.

Is the right approach to partner with specialists, universities and other technology providers while focusing on solving the commercial problem?

I’d appreciate honest opinions.

I heard about shampoo and conditioner bars being low waste, but arnt they expensive. Same with wild deodorant I want to go with them but 8 dollars for a refill? I know quality worth it but I dint want to spend alot of money??

I'm not saying they don't exist at all. But compared to other fields like business, tech, gaming, cooking, etc, there aren't really any big names out there.

From what I can tell, most sustainability content is run by non profits or companies, not individual creators.

Content creators are essential for bringing ideas to the community, sharing opinions, and informing the public at an angle that documentaries don't. So why not in sustainability, where making informed decisions is all about helping the environment?

I'm not trying to call anyone out, I just want to understand this gap and play a part where possible. Anyone here know of creators already doing this well?

Honestly believing that a company is truly good and that it should be worth more than it is now, and communicating this to a wide audience driving the stock price up is not illegal/market manipulation. Or is it? This was the case of Game Stop back in the day.

Why has nobody ever replicated this but doing a poll online, to choose a small company that is truly sustainable and ethical, driving it’s price up?

The goal is not to be millionaires guys, we only want a better world. So we don’t want to skyrocket the price and generate market instability, only move it significantly, to show the world that good things can be done if we team up. If the stock starts skyrocketing, more stocks can be added to the poll so people can start diversifying, and in an utopic world we would push big corps to become more ethical to be part of this trend. The ones that don’t evolve will fail.

If non-sense trends can happen online like the Tim Payne one in the current 2026 Football World Cup, why can’t people create a good trend with real impact once and for all?

We’re living in a crazy world, with climate change, over-consumerism, poverty, wars and hunger, to name a few. Many of us know that the main drivers of all these issues are the poor bastards that only want power and profit in their lives, because they have nothing else than material stuff :(

Why hasn’t this happened before? What am I missing?

I’m keen to gear the thoughts of this community on philosophy, ethics, economics and environmentalism.

Started out thinking food miles were the biggest factor in sustainable grocery shopping. But after some great discussions here, I’m now thinking carbon emissions, water use land impact and production are what actually moves the needle on people’s choices.

Is that the general consensus? Is there anything supermarkets/producers can do to provide more insight into this? How can we consolidate globalised data? And if you had easy access to that data for every item on your grocery receipt — would it actually change what you buy?

Any suggestions? I have a healthy patch on my long frontage. I tried spraying with vinegar, but only succeeded in aggravating my tendinitis. I’m not averse to goats, but they’re expensive to rent, and the renter ghosted me a few years ago. What if I buried an old billboard sign over it, and covered that with something? Or other ideas?

Here's how science says you can optimize.

im helping a friend look into packaging options for their takeaway shop, and it feels like an absolute minefield. most things labeled 'eco' or 'compostable' require industrial facilities that our local council doesnt even support, or they just perform terribly compared to standard plastic food packaging.

we've been looking at various commercial options to see if they are actually better, including the eco lines from suppliers like WF plastic food packaging but I'm highly skeptical. has anyone done a deep dive into the real environmental impact of these alternatives?