Climate Title
Climate title here. Stu Bale: ‘Sustainability’ is a dangerous word. Like the phrase, “I’m fine” it has the potential to cover a multitude of outcomes and is more often than not, a lie. Sustainability is a business and as a result, there’s a lot of fucked up information, misguided nonsense and sometimes just straight up lies out there. This is not a rant or a negative piece - There are a lot of well intentioned people putting honest effort in to do their bit for our ailing planet but a lot of them are putting it in in the wrong places and many of us are asking the wrong questions and coming up with some proper wack answers. The main gripe I have with this whole virtue signalling greenwashing sycophantic brigade of do gooders is the lack of actual good being done, or in some cases actually increased damage. In the bar industry specifically, “citrus stock” is one particular daftness. This is where people re-boil their used citrus husks to double up to create an acid solution for drinks. This is dumb because it assumes the need for citrus fruit, which is the real sinner here in terms of carbon footprint. This kind of ‘one step’ solution is a classic across the industry. There’s also a real habit of not drilling down into the costs. EVERYTHING, including labour, has a footprint. Rhianon Jones: For answers, I’m going to suggest that we turn to the realm of philosophy, notably New Materialism, and specifically the theory of ‘Vibrant Matter’ advocated by Jane Bennett.. According to Bennett, in modern culture we typically divide the world and the items in it along the dualistic lines of dull matter (it, things) and vibrant life – us and other beings. This results in an oversight of the vitality of matter and material formats such as how omega 3 fatty acids affect mood or the way that new chemical compounds are being created from the sludge and run off that accumulates at the bottom of landfill sites. As people within the food and drink industry, this shouldn’t strike us as new. As the recent revival in fermentation and preservation has demonstrated, not all bacteria is bad and some that are bad in large quantities are equally bad in small quantities. (Sandor Katz quote [...]
