The most common question I get when making speeches or lectures is:
What should I do then – How can I be more sustainable?
If I had the perfect answer to that, in a society as complex as ours – I would qualify among the geniuses of our time. I would most likely win the Nobel-prize, or probably all of them…
Therefore My answer is – Learn more!
“…Pick up the brain from the desk-drawer and put it to work…”
There is no easy answer on this one and there are no short-cuts or quick-fixes.
We need to transform the way we live on this earth and there are thousands of ways to get there. The more updated knowledge you have on the subject, the more likely it is that you will find your road-map.
The Staircase of Change!
See & Hear!
The first time you read about or listen to information about Sustainability or Climate-Change only small “bits-and-pieces” actually stick to your mind. Some of us need to hear it repeatedly some get it quicker. The reaction is either that you don’t care so much or that you actually find the information interesting. To get to the next step, you need to overcome a hurdle – You have to adjust your attitude – so that you want to learn more and realize you need to understand what this is all about.
Comprehend!
On this step you do understand that Sustainability is an important issue for us – the people. Most likely you will linger on this step for a while and increase your knowledge, check different sources, read some literature, google stuff, discuss with friends etc. so that you really understand what it’s all about and how it affects you. Comes the next hurdle – You need to take responsibility, to realize that you have to do your part.
Want to!
Now you know that you are a part of the “problem” that you have behaviours and things you do that is un-sustainable and that you need to change. You have ownership of your situation. Last hurdle but also the highest step – You need to comply with what you know and what needs to be changed. This means changing old habits and creates new ways.
Does!
Now you have changed your behaviour and the new way has become the normal way.
We all have to walk up this staircase of change, there is no elevator!
Most likely we also need to take the stairs several times because we cannot change everything in one big bang. One good thing is that after having done it once the second time is easier and the third and so on… Like in real life – more exercise makes you more fit.
One“tricky” part is that we all walk at different pace, we linger for different time on each step and we have different attitudes.
An example – when you have realized that you don’t need that big gas-slurping car to take you to work, that the eight-minute walk to the bus is a good way to start the day, that getting to know new people on the bus is a “perq”, that costs go down – you might still have a neighbour thinking that prestige and expensive “toys” are the only attributes for success – wonder which step he/she is on…
Let’s start walking!