The Philosophy of Sustainability vs. Regeneration in Business Practices

All philosophy is personal. Taking ownership of our ideas and the fundamentals of “big things” is a human trait. Yet, in its essence, philosophy is a shared work-in-progress, informed by our collective and personal experience and learning.

Our human relationship with Earth stands well apart, in that our philosophy about how we interact with the planet and its people is not just an arms-length discussion point, but really an existential imperative of our species. So, how do we think about this relationship? Is it one of dominance, dependence, inter-dependence, charity perhaps, or partnership?

The word “sustainability” features prominently at the highest levels and attempts to describe what this relationship should look like. There are a number of philosophical constructs around its meaning:

-“Sustainability is the idea that society can exist and develop without depleting the natural resources that future generations need to live."

-“Sustainability is a property of any activity, practice, process or institution that has the capacity to be continued in more or less the same way indefinitely."

-“Sustainability is about making the world a better place by improving the relationships we have with and within it."

What all of this hints at, in contemplation of our relationship with the environment and our communities, is that we should do no harm. Applied in a business sense, the following operational actions then gain practical potential: 

• Reduce waste so that there is less or no pollution;
• Reduce consumption of brown energy, and switch to clean energy to mitigate resource depletion and pollution;
• Conserve water and adopt green cleaning and laundry practices to promote clean water for all;
• Evolve labor practices that fairly consider equality, diversity and workplace wellness.

However, the narrow philosophy of “do no harm” is packaged with blind spots, especially as we face declining human health, biodiversity loss and climate change. It does not buttress against inevitable future challenges and does not mitigate against natural disasters that are independent of human impacts. Moreover, it is inherently a current- and backward-looking philosophy. “Doing no harm” is grounded in a relationship of dependence and charity.

Thus, the concept of “sustainability,” insofar as it denotes sustaining and conserving living systems, may well prove inadequate in a future context. Is there a different way to think about our relationship with our planet and our people?

Related: Balancing Spa Sustainability and the Luxury Experience

“Nature is Not Just a Neighbor, But a Business Partner”

These words from well-known Six Senses hospitality group struck a chord. Thinking about nature and our communities as vital business partners demands a new, and exciting, cognitive shift. What would this business relationship look like?

Natura, Africa Creative and Forbes embarked on a joint campaign to highlight the $317 billion value of the Amazon Rainforest’s bio-economy and how the standing, living forest is actually worth seven times more than the potential earnings from its destruction. The headline read: "Amazon Rainforest ‘Tops’ Forbes' Billionaires List."

The Amazon Rainforest’s “bio-services-bundle” is undoubtedly one of the most vital contributions to the human-planet relationship. It is fair to state that a meaningful acknowledgement of this nature treasure will fundamentally determine how we interact with it.

“In the business world, it's attractive to put everything in a dollar amount,” says Jonathan Davies, a professor in the Conservation Science department at the University of British Columbia. “So, if we do that [account for ecosystem services in business reporting], we can incorporate some of these services into the value of natural habitats and biodiversity.”

One practical way in which the acknowledgement of ecosystem services and our valuable business relationship with nature can play out is through an innovative accounting tool developed by the Puma company. This tool measures the cost to nature of manufacturing processes, calculates the volume of potable water consumed, pollution caused and topsoil lost when a new product is created and, thereby, arrives at the true cost of a product.

Sounds Right is a new UN Live music initiative, which enables nature to generate and benefit from conservation funding from its own sounds. The initiative has ignited a global conversation about the value of nature, and for the first time, nature can generate royalties from its own sounds, such as ocean waves, wind, rainstorms and birdsong, to support its own conservation.

Nature is now independently recognized as an artist with its own profile on major streaming platforms. By simply listening to music that features sounds of the natural world, nature itself can fund conservation and restoration projects in our most precious ecosystems. This sounds - no pun intended - like a most beneficial business relationship.

The next logical step in our partnership with nature is not just to protect what we have in nature, but to enhance all of Earth’s systems. This is where regenerative and net-positive practices come into play. Regeneration goes beyond sustainability, by restoring as well as renewing and improving the systems we depend on, while also enhancing the inherent ability of these systems to restore and improve themselves.

Setting The Standard

Already, some agri-businesses have adopted regenerative agriculture, rebuilding the soil’s organic matter, enhancing biodiversity, restoring water sources, and importantly, at the same time, growing and evolving individuals and communities to actualize their potential.

Net-positive buildings generate and harvest more energy and water than consumed within them and improve the ecology of their surrounding areas. They also generate and store energy for surrounding communities, use the site to process storm water runoff, and can even have “skins” that “scrub” the air of pollutants.

Many skin care brands are also working towards organic and regenerative status, adopting farm-to-face principles and bio dynamically farming their own ingredients for their products. A notable example is Comfort Zone – helping to create the first European Regenerative Organic Centre.

The spa industry is not far behind beauty brands, combining green buildings with net-positive water and energy strategies, sustainable equipment, regenerative organic products and supportive programs for staff and communities. In this way, they too will be adopting Regeneration as a new green philosophy, with nature as business partner.

Charné le Roux, sustainability expert and GSN Planet Board Member, combines her knowledge as a commercial lawyer and green building specialist to develop tools such as the Sustainable Spa Practitioner Course and the GSN Greenspa Calculator. Also the founder and CEO of Greenspa Africa, she currently serves on the Global Wellness Institute’s SDG Initiative.