Making A Change

It was nearly four years ago that I wrote a short post about making a change to learn more about sustainability.  At that time, I was excited to get serious about something that was near and dear to my heart.  I had intentions of regularly posting about all the new things I’d learned about sustainability and best practices that everyday people could implement.  For a number of reasons, that never came together.  I tried again the following year, and again I quickly stopped.   So, I’m hoping that the third time’s a charm and things come together from here on out.  

Over the past few years I have implemented a few eco-friendly changes in my life, with mixed results.  These include, starting a compost pile, bringing reusable bags to the store, converting lawn space into flower beds, adding more native plants to the yard, and trying to grow some of my own food. 

Some of the changes have been consistent and made a positive change, while some are inconsistent and still a work in progress.  I struggle with building habits, as you can see with the four years it has taken me to get this blog going.  I understand fighting the inertia of years of daily habits, even when you really do want to make improvements.  I also have not figured out any magic that just gets me where I want to be on a path.  There’s no secret reveal at the end of this post that explains how to make change and be more sustainable.  Figuring that out is the whole point of this site. 

There is a growing realization for me that our current culture/lifestyle/worldview, whatever you want to call it, is completely unsustainable and will require such drastic upheaval in the status quo that we likely will not get there without massive tragedy, violence, and/or restructuring of societies and governments.  I hope we can find a way forward that at least minimizes the negative impacts of change.  I think we can, though it will mean letting go of things and will make us fairly uncomfortable and cause us to question much of what we currently do.

Some of the questions I want to investigate are:

• Can we develop a society that is not based on constant growth of consumption?
• Can we continue to advance technology at some acceptable pace that does not also require us to strip the planet of its resources?
• Can humanity find ways to put aside tribalism while also keeping us rooted within our individual cultures?  (Can’t we all just get along?)
• Can we change our mindset from one of domination over and exploitation of nature to one that recognizes that we are part of nature and fundamentally rely on maintaining healthy ecosystems?
• What are the issues with current energy usage?

I also would like to explore current policies and technologies that are working to help us build more resilience and connection with our environment. And to look at what we’ve been doing wrong.  It’s important to find practical solutions; things that people might actually implement, but it’s even more important to begin changing how we view the world we live in. Without feeling a genuine connection, respect, and maybe even love, for the environment we live in, there is little chance people will implement change without being forced to do so – and that won’t work long term. So, I also want to learn more about our environment, because I believe the more we see the wonders of the world around us and how we connect with it, the easier it will be to find that motivation to change.