No one likes an fanatic, we've all known a reformed smoker who raves about the virtues of being smoke free or similar type, and how much of a turn off it is. Be real about your expectations of what others will and can do, don't go in with guns blazing and introduce them to your most radical ideals; composting loos, vegan diets, teepee living and once a month bathing isn't for everyone.
I admit I am sometimes embarrassed by the hippy image associated with being green, and I cringe with horror when I hear suggestions that are just impractical for the average everyday person. Remember that people enjoy their creature comforts, find ways they can retain the things they enjoy while cutting back. And be encouraging, not judgmental of their efforts. I recently quite proudly announced on a forum that our family had reduced our electricity use from an average of 18kwh per day 12 months ago, down to 13kwh per day... only to have the carpet swept from under me by someone scolding for using in excess of 10kwh per day.
I think it is very important to remember that you should not try to convert others to your lifestyle. Instead show them ways in which they can reduce their impact on the environment while retaining their own lifestyle.
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Goodwill and scale
Quote: I think it is very important to remember that you should not try to convert others to your lifestyle. Instead show them ways in which they can reduce their impact on the environment while retaining their own lifestyle.
Yet the changes we can make at a household level without a change in lifestyle are trivial relative to the problem. The big carbon emmitters (thats us) have to undergo a change in lifestyle while those who want to be like us need to wonder if it is worth it. The trouble is the big changes are structural at levels beyond individual action.
In essence I think you ask us to preserve goodwill and exercise democracy.
So back to your point. We can struggle to raise and clarify issues and track the data. We cannot tell others how they should live, in any case life and circumstance are too diverse for that. When anyone comes to understand the issues and opportunities then they will be better placed to initiate their own action.
However, at community and government levels, and in economic or climate induced circumstances, there will be constraints upon individuals, businesses and communities. Large scale action needs to arise out of common understanding - like bans on tungsten bulbs and wasteful lighting to cite an easy instance, or restructuring cities to reduce reliance on high carbon transportation to take a harder one.
Noel
Fanatic
Except that millions of people are going to die catastrophically if we don't do something(s) radical soon. (preferably 10 years ago - don't take it personally)
If people honestly think that veganism and/or living in a teepee is going to help then you should respect that.
Why don't you try engaging radical ideas - radicals can be valuable sources of wisdom at times. (remember climate change has been considered a radical theory up until recently)
Sometimes things which seem quite radical only seem so by comparison to what we consider to be normal.
If we don't have a serious look at where our civilisation is heading then you might not have a choice about living in tents and bathing infrequently.
Most of the world's population lives in poverty http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp
Daily showers aren't actually a global 'norm' - you're the novelty.
Also you should consider what happens when a population is 'displaced' by an environmental disaster. Such disasters have been predicted, and some of them will happen in Aotearoa. If housing for 10,000 Aucklanders were to get demolished by a storm-surge associated with a tropical cyclone you would see people living in tents and not washing quite soon.
I'm not sure if I'm a fanatic, I know that I'm desperately worried.
Aren't you?
Bill Lesser XXX
Actually I am
You seem to think I don't give a damn. Yes I am worried, we live on a valley floor within a km of the sea shore in an area that has historically been a floodplain before the river was 'tamed' through stopbanks. I am fully aware of the implications of sea level rising and the impact it could directly have on my home.
What I am saying is don't scare away people with over the top evangelical preaching. You'll switch more folk off then you'll get through to. The average kiwi doesn't want to be told that if they don't stop eating meat and live in the dark they're dooming the planet to extinction, they will switch off and walk away. But they do respond to a gentler approach of making smaller changes that don't mean huge lifestyle upheavals. Once they are on the path they will keep going under their own power.
I think it is more important to reach out to everyone and get them all on board even if it is just in small ways, because each baby step builds up to a bigger leap.