Dear friends,
Where would you place yourself on the scale in terms of how committed you are to living a sustainable lifestyle?
Colmar Brunton asks New Zealanders this question in an annual survey of attitudes & behaviour called the Better Futures Report 2016. They've run the survey for a few years now so its interesting to compare the trends. According to this report, more people are putting value in sustainable choices. The statistics say 10% rated themselves having a low commitment, 65% were medium and 25% had a high commitment to living a sustainable lifestyle. The "low commitment" proportion is shrinking, which is nice.
Anyway statistics are handy, but lets talk about reality, I mean action versus aspiration, living in the space where the rubber hits the road.
Ingredients
For the last couple of years, at the start of each year I have picked a theme and chosen a mantra to go with it. The idea is you ask yourself:
what do I want to do?
who do I want to be?.
Choose a few words, something you could write on a post-it and stick to your computer as a reminder. In my experience, setting this sort of intention is powerful. Its powerful because it guides decision making throughout the year. Keeps your eyes on the prize, in a world full of crazy distractions.
So through some reflection at the beginning of 2017, I decided on a theme for year of "be the change". Credit to Ghandi (Be the change you wish to see in the world). I recognise that the best place for me to start to influence others to live a more sustainable lifestyle is to lead the way, to start with changing myself. This applies to anything in life by the way, best example has to be relationships.. holy cow, think you can change someone else? Forget it.. invest your energy in what you can control.
So......with that in mind, here's my recipe for living a more sustainable lifestyle.
- Make smart buying decisions
- Share insights with others
- Lead by example
- Speak up and don't be afraid to challenge others opinions or behaviour.
1. Make smart buying decisions
We all consume products and services each and every day. We make dozens of purchasing decisions which individually seem trivial but are the small steps which create momentum. Prioritising sustainable choices and making smart buying decisions around vehicle and household items is such a good thing to do. Where to start? Here's my ideas:
- Consume less (clothes and shoes in my case).
- Seek to buy secondhand wherever possible.
- Prefer brands and services that are socially and environmentally responsible. Be interested, ask questions about the origin of raw materials, where its made and what they do with waste.
- Ditch the top 4 on the hit-list of single use plastic: shopping bags, coffee cups, water bottles and straws.
- Seek to buy grocery items without plastic packaging where ever possible, even if it means changing where I shop.
- Prepare litter-free lunchboxes.
2. Share your insights with others
More often than not, there is a dual motivation to my decisions about products, services or ways of doing things more sustainably. I believe that sustainable choices almost always save money or have astonishing health and happiness co-benefits. I cant begin to explain what a vastly different way it is to experience the world and our connection to our fellow humans when you travel by foot or bicycle, rather than inside the isolating bubble of a car.
So, I am committing to proactively sharing my knowledge and what I learn on this journey. That means talking about it at the family BBQ, with friends, partners, children, work colleagues, sharing it on social media. Writing reviews and recommendations for places you observe to be doing well at taking care of people and the planet.
3. Lead by example
For me, this is going to be mostly achieved through 1 and 2 above. Reiterating the point that it doesn't matter what everyone else is doing. I comfort myself with this thought:
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
4. Don't be afraid to speak up if you think something could be done a better way
For me this is the hardest but probably the most important change I can make in myself. I can think of half a dozen situations in the last few months where I thought something could have been done more so much more sustainably BUT I SAID NOTHING. I said nothing because I know people make these decisions to save time or money or effort and who am I to tell someone how to live their life? However, the point is, information is neutral, it's not offensive or criticism and if someone perceives it as that, it says more about them than me.
Time to get cooking!
I believe I am not alone in wanting to live a more sustainable lifestyle. I reckon most people want the same thing that I do, which is to do better at looking after our planet and our people. Does anyone truly want their actions or purchases to support environmental damage or some abuse of human rights?.
I hope I haven't come across as some holier-than-thou greenie, in fact I hesitate to even write about living a sustainable lifestyle because I'm just as imperfect as the rest of the planet, easily distracted watching kittens on YouTube.
I share this recipe with you because maybe you feel the same way but don't really know where to start. I think it doesn't really matter what you do or where you start. Just commit and take one small step. Be prepared to be a little uncomfortable at times. Be prepared even, to try a little voluntary hardship (according to the ancient stoics you can get a surprising happiness boost from experiencing voluntary discomfort - read more here).
I say: the greatest rewards are found just outside your comfort zone. What are your thoughts? Love to hear whether is resonates with you.
