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Jessica Böhme

Jessica Böhme

witty wisdom for ecophilic lifestyles.

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Archives for July 2017

Changing our Approach to Change

July 13, 2017 by jessicab Leave a Comment

Browsing the web, there are now hundreds and thousands of websites and articles about how to live a green life.  No meat, no trash, second hand, organic dish soap. Endless sources. Endless knowledge.

But as it is with eating a healthy diet, we don’t always act as we know we should. We have all the knowledge in the world. But still. Not much changed.

Science has done so much research about the WHY. It’s often referred to as the mind-behaviour-gap.

The thing is, we often approach sustainability under the same conditions that we approach any other life goal.

Two seemingly different approaches to change

Let’s take two cliches. The capitalist and the environmentalist.

Both parties seem to live in different worlds. Both want change. Both want their ideas to be recognized. Both want the world to be better when they left.

There are three questions to ask yourself to check your approach for change.

  • What is success to you?
  • How do you make it happen?
  • What do you do when you achieved it?

For the capitalist the answers are as followed:

  • What is success to you? Changing the way the company works (while making a bunch of money)
  • How do you make it happen? I work my ass off and do what it takes.
  • What do you do when you achieved it? Strive for more.

For the environmentalist the answers are as followed:

  • What is success to you? Changing the way we care about the environment.
  • How do you make it happen? I work my ass off and do what it takes.
  • What do you do when you achieved it? Strive for more.

Different goal. Same mindset. Same strategy.

Success is not measured in money, but in how eco-friendly you act.

At first sight, the capitalist and the environmentalist seem to have two opposing ideas. Actually, they are not.

Mostly, the desire to act sustainable comes from the same mindset as the desire to have a great cooperate job.  The one person thinks sustainability is hip and worth it, the other person thinks a management position is hip and worth it.

Both want change.

Both follow the same hedonic treadmill that keeps us and the world spinning.

They might have different goals, but the approach, the how, is the same.

But where has it gotten us so far?

Albert Einstein once said that we can’t change things by the same kind of thinking that created it. That’s what we are trying though.

We are acting like the fly trapped in a bedroom. Frequently flying against the window, banging its head, although the window next to it is wide open.

What to do about it?

We need to find that open window to make change happen.

Recent research shows that we can change our beliefs and that in turn changes who we are and how we do things.

In order to get our of the treadmill, we need to start thinking radically different.

We need to adopt a mindset that allows…

…collaboration instead of competition.

…love instead of hate.

…compassion instead of judgment and anger.

One of the greatest spiritual teachers of our time, Eckhard Tolle, puts it this way:

“All problems are illusions of the mind”.

Every anger you have, every grudge you hold, every negative thought you have about a situation, is something that you made up by yourself.

And that, in turn, means, that you are free to change it anytime you want. The reason that you don’t is because you don’t choose to.

If you really want to make change happen, change your “how”. Start from within.

Conclusion

Time to act on it. Now.

Filed Under: essay

Why Sustainability is Selfish

July 4, 2017 by jessicab Leave a Comment

Imagine a beautiful, remote island as big as a football field in the middle of the sea. It’s full of eatable plants and a lake with clear drinking water. On the island lives Joe. Joe chose to live on the island two weeks ago. Along with him, he brought a whole lot of stuff that he didn’t want to miss out on. His favorite food, ravioli out of a can and Oreo cookies. Shampoo. A generator to plug in his hairdryer. And a calculator (just in case).  
 
After a year of living on the island, Joe wants to leave. He says everything changed so much. 
 
This is what the island looks like today: Joe dumped the leftover ravioli in the lake. Unfortunately, they had a chemical reaction with his shampoo. They poisoned the lake so the water is not drinkable anymore. The eatable plants are all in his belly and Joe forgot to plant new ones. His hairdryer died and now covers, along with all his other crap, 1/6 of the island he once called home. 
 
Thinking about Joe, you might wonder what an idiot he is. 
 
I agree. 
 
Now imagine Joe living according to all the eco-friendliness you can possibly think of. Eating one plant, planting another. Treating the lake with care. Loving everything around him. Joe would still be able to live on his island. Joe took care of his island because he wanted to live there for the rest of his life. He was preserving his habitat. Not for altruistic reasons. Not because he is a nice guy. Not because he likes the plants. But for selfish reasons. For the very only fact, that he dies if he doesn’t.

Joe would be selfish. 

“Selfish: a person who is concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure.”
We say we have to be altruistic to live sustainable, but the problem is not selfishness itself. It’s our idea that if we do good for us, it naturally has to be bad for others. 
 
In an ideal world, sustainability would be selfless. It would be an act of kindness and altruism. We would care for each other and for the planet. And be kind to everything. Sustainability means we can’t be selfish because this will destroy the planet, right? 

But what if selfishness is good for us AND others.

What if we reframe what a sustainable lifestyle means. This might change the world. 
 
Sustainability is a selfish act that serves us. And others. 
 
As long as you think sustainability is a pure act of kindness and altruism, you feel like you are giving something up for others. (Although you wouldn’t if you had the whole world figured out and you had the mindset of the Dalai Lama). 
 
And this is why it’s so hard to make everyone on the planet go sustainable. Because people think sustainability is nothing they do for themselves. They think it’s exclusively for others. For future generations and for people living somewhere else. 
 
But sustainability is the opposite. It’s the most rewarding way of life. It’s the healthiest, cheapest, giving-you-a-good-feeling-because-you-do-what-you-think-is-right-feeling.
 
Instead of making sustainability an act of altruism and loving kindness, it’s time to redefine it. Do it for the very person you care about most: yourself.

Filed Under: essay

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