My View of Sustainability as a BFC Board Member

What is sustainability?

The most often quoted definition comes from the UN World Commission on Environment and Development: “sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

In the charter for the UCLA Sustainability Committee, sustainability is defined as: “the integration of environmental health, social equity and economic vitality in order to create thriving, healthy, diverse and resilient communities for this generation and generations to come. The practice of sustainability recognizes how these issues are interconnected and requires a systems approach and an acknowledgement of complexity.”

BFC Board members are charged with making sure that our Co-op functions as a viable business. If we don’t stay in business, we can’t accomplish our Ends Policies and we will no longer be a resource towards sustainability. Making sure that our Co-op is a viable business does not make us a “corporation” focused solely on maximizing profits for its shareholders. Our owners are you, our members. When there is a profit, it is folded back into the business or paid out as dividends to you.

I have a vision of our Co-op being a resource for our community during times of crisis. Towards that end, supporting local farmers and makers is paramount. We all learned about how the supply chain can fail back in 2020 with the COVID pandemic. Not only could there be another pandemic, but we have experienced severe weather events, flooding, and the like. I want our Co-op to be there for our community in those times: times when you can’t find fresh produce and other foods from the other side of this country or from other countries; a place to gather and support one another; to be a resource in how to live more sustainably.

In the end, as with our Ends, balancing business needs and ethical values is challenging – a challenge we should face head on. We members of the BFC Board understand the increased cost that comes with resourcing environmentally sustainable products and practices. And we know we face steep competition from our nearby competitors – chain stores with significant purchasing power that have tapped into the organic market. Taking all of this together, the Co-op will need the ongoing support of its member owners, and the community that all of us create and embody, to continue being the local, sustainable cooperative grocery that we wish it to be.

Denise Glover, Board Member

Related articles: Recent Sustainability Accomplishments at the Co-op, Sustainability at the Co-op: Big News!