Sustainability defined as ecological restoration and stewardship (Blandy, Congdon & Krug, 1998; Garoian, 1998), environmental justice (Hicks & King, 2007), and politicizing arts and arts education practices (jagodzinski, 2007) is expanded in this article by articulating the consumption and production dialectic and the resulting forms of waste as accumulation, squandering, and spoilage. The author argues that consumption and production (Bataille, 1988; Blandy, 2011; Garoian & Gaudelius, 2008; jagodzinski, 2007; Mauss, 1950/1990) relationships in arts education practices can serve as impetus to reconceptualize (Carpenter & Tavin, 2009) a sustained presence through disequilibrium by actualizing latent and consumed energies. The author posits that sustainability is possible through exchange-as- giving exemplified in Agnes Denes' "Wheatfield--A Confrontation" (1982) and "Tree Mountain--A Living Time Capsule" (1996), Dominique Mazeaud's "The Great Cleansing of the Rio Grande" (1987-1994), and Stephen Carpenter's (2010) associated work in producing ceramic water filters for potable water. (Contains 3 figures and 10 endnotes.)