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Facing climate change fills you with dread . . . until you act. Then you see all the reasons not to act as self-serving rationalization. When you find the joy,
by spodek 7y ago
Facing climate change fills you with dread . . . until you act. Then you see all the reasons not to act as self-serving rationalization. When you find the joy, community, and connection of acting on your environmental values.
When you realize that stopping all this polluting activity improves your life, you want to do more. People will comment that what one person does doesn't matter and other self-serving rationalization, but they miss that it improves your life.
I talk about this in my TEDx talks http://joshuaspodek.com/my-second-tedx-talk-what-everyone-gets-wrong-about-the-environment-and-how-to-get-it-right-went-live http://joshuaspodek.com/my-second-tedx-talk-what-everyone-ge... and will treat it more in the one I'm giving this weekend, as well as my podcast, but the bottom line is that the more you act the more you'll stop navel gazing and the excuses not to act will melt away.
Avoiding packaged food led for me to avoiding flying, which led to a podcast, which led me to work with some of the world's most renowned and influential people (more to come!) http://joshuaspodek.com/podcast http://joshuaspodek.com/podcast, which led to a practice of environmental leadership executive training, where I train corporate executives in the specific leadership skills relevant to the environment, which leads to cultural change (and, for the executives: promotions, higher morale, attracting talent, and so on, which happens when you meet the demand everyone else is ignoring).
- abyssin 7y agoI'm attracted to the idea that acting makes you feel better. But how do you take part in the economy, for instance, without adding to the catastrophe? How do you socialize without emitting carbon? I feel like I'd have to join some sort of cult if I were to both take care of my material and socializing needs, and live a carbon neutral lifestyle. And then again, would I feel satisfied with a carbon neutral lifestyle? When there's a fire burning, is it enough to tell yourself you're not adding fuel to the fire? Shouldn't you take part in throwing water? For a long time it felt good showing virtue. Right now panic is kicking in again and I have no idea how to handle it.
- rebuilder 7y agoYou can't fix this alone. You can't even lead by example and get results, because a sustainable lifestyle in terms of climate change essentially has you living under a bridge if you account for your share of infrastructure. Personal responsibility is just not going to be the solution, so we need to look elsewhere. I need to clarify here that I agree with GP that taking personal action is empowering and can lead you down a virtuous path. I just think that the goal needs to be changing society, not changing your own life. So if you want to make a difference, you have to be part of society. You have to take part in the economy, even if that means you will personally directly contribute more to the problem than you would if you went full hermit in the woods. There's no simple solution, but if there is one at all, it has to involve a lot of people working together.
- spodek 7y agoGP back again. I did a podcast episode on the point of personal action and the difference from influencing others, which I also do: https://shows.acast.com/leadership-and-the-environment/episodes/224-clarifying-my-strategy https://shows.acast.com/leadership-and-the-environment/episo...