Sustainable Living
Sustainable living is a way of thinking! The Better Lives model assists personal judgement about when and how to use sustaining principles and practices to achieve a sustainable vision.
VISION
Imagine everyone living happy sustainable lives on a peaceful sustainable earth.
PURPOSE
Assist disadvantaged schools, families and children with solutions to their sustainable living challenges.
QUALITY
Deliver expected quality solutions that are easy and enjoyable to sustain.
PRACTICES
Use sustaining practices to design and build quality solutions for sustainable living challenges.
PRINCIPLES
Believe in values that seed behaviours, which support sustaining practices.
Mandala
Our sustainable living model is depicted in this mandala image. Avocado tree seeds, petals and leaves represent our principles and practices that support our purpose.
Principles
Seeds represent beliefs that seed sustaining behaviours, which start with taking ownership and lead to a sense of purpose in life.
OWNERSHIP
Home – for security
Responsibility – for sustainability
Health – for capacity to achieve
TEAMWORK
Gratitude – for others
Caring – to understand
Trust – each other
LEADERSHIP
Education – to develop skills
Productivity – by using skills
Earning – by producing and selling value
PURPOSE
Confidence – from small sustainable successes
Assistance – to achieve sustainable living
Courage – to solve challenges
Practices
Petals represent six practices that are used to build and care for solutions to sustainable living challenges:
RELATE to understand challenges
SOLVE root causes of challenges
AGREE ownership of solutions
DESIGN fit-for-purpose solutions
RESOURCE low life-cycle cost solutions
IMPLEMENT sustainable solutions
Purpose
Leaves represent the following steps on a possible path to sustainable living:
Access KNOWLEDGE
Apply RESOURCES
Strengthen HEALTH
Earn INCOME
Improve HOME
Enhance EDUCATION
These steps guide how we assist schools, families and children with solutions for sustainable living challenges.