This is just a personal complaint and very tired rant, on something that I think really should matter in the forward motion of the /r/antiwork community.
Our current society is destroying our planet and our lives. The Sustainability buzzword package is now providing a way for companies to work extra hard on making them appear sustainable or environmentally friendly. Or market the right product, to appear as if they are promoting sustainability. Globally harmonized sustainability standards are coming to fruition, but even if they are made by experts with the best intentions, it’s the stakeholders who really define the value of these standards, and they are at the whim of whatever bullshit companies will dispense.
Meanwhile, our generations have grown up at a time where the harm to our lives and planet is tangible, our anxiety and our problem solving abilities are attuned to this systemic situation. New corporate jobs are popping up in sustainability and have hilariously unrealistic expectations for hire, with requirements such as degrees in sustainable development which really didn’t ever exist before. And so the education which we may have sought out only has value in a society stuck in status quo. But really – sustainability isn’t just one sort of specialization, it’s a revolution of the workplace, and of society. And, it’s not what is being solicited by companies trying to market to the latest trend.
There’s no company I want to work for that thinks profit should be the most important goal; rather, it should be whether they really do fit in a sustainable society. Because, to be a sustainable company is to be a part of a community that I want to be in, and that’s the only real company I can realistically expect my values to align with.
I think anti work can see their hopes and dreams come forth as governments begin to mandate sustainability reporting and defined terms, so shoppers drug mart can’t just say they sell sustainable makeup, for instance, while I’m sure their workplace culture is not sustainable at all (and let’s face it, nothing in their make up line is sustainable.)
Companies will have to fit bills they will have never had to before, and we have a soapbox to stand on in that fight.
/end rant.