What does it take to make people take action?
I often wonder what it takes to make other people take action. For me, it is simple, I will almost always take action when I am shown how it affects my children. For me and my lifestyle change, there have been several major things that have happened to cause a large shift in my thinking and my family's lifestyle (supported by small things along the way to strengthen my beliefs).
I watched An Inconvient Truth over a year ago and completely revisited the way I think about my family's impact on the world. I read Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and realized that the way we approached food and eating was going to cause major problems down the road. I read Noah's Garden, by Sara Stein and all of sudden opened my eyes to the issues with alien invasive plants and the REAL need for native plants to help maintain diversity and our wildlife.
All of these things caused major shifts in my mindset because they all cycled back to the same thing....the state of our earth for our children. Without thinking about how they all affect my children, I could see the changes as being too difficult or not real enough. I can see how some people (without children) may not care where our world is 20 years from now. But I do. I care enough to see that maybe we are better off without our lush green lawns (more on this in a future post) for them to play sports in so that we can conserve water and create more wildlife friendly habitats. I care enough to tell them "no, we aren't buying bananas and oranges today" because that decision helps lessen (however slightly) the fuel used to ship the produce. I care enough to go to 3 farmer's markets to support local farming so that our children will have something to eat (that doesn't come from a can) when they grow up. I care enough to have my house hotter in the summer and colder in the winter, so that they have some semblance of this world when they have their own children. I care enough to do a lot of things...it's amazing what parenting can do for you.
But what about everyone else, what does it take to make people take action, to make a lifestyle change, to decided the little inconviences or time spent on little things are worth it?
4 comments:
Sadly it takes overwhelming indisputable nightly news going to die endemic pandemonium for most people to change.
I'm not sure if it's entitlement, mediocrity, apathy, lack of willpower, or a combination of them all. It seems most people live in a reactive state never giving what they are doing much thought.
I've been a physical trainer and seen it in my clients. I've tried to espouse the slow food ideas to my family and have yet to get a hook. As well I'm a productivy person working on some neat productivity applications and only a small set of people really like to actively control their decisions.
With food though the general reaction I get is, 'Don't tell me that, you're going to scare me'..
Well isn't that the point?
'I haven't the time to do the right thing.' -- yea.. that line never sails right with me.
For us it took learning something new and caring about ourselves enough to enact changes. 80% of our food-stuffs are from the market. We live off of weekly meal plans that we generally concoct while at, or heading to, the market.
Ah well. I'll pine for a day people listen and pro actively seek out their solutions and stop sitting on their laurels waiting for conveniences to catch up. Until then I carry a soap-box in my car and get on it once in a while with those around me. hahah. ;-)
Ellen is my sister-in-law and so I've been exposed over the last year to the information she and Josh have learned about the benefits of eating local food. Our family has begun to participate in this movement, but I can say that taking the step of consuming only local food is not something we can take on fully yet. I guess a slow start (no pun intended) is better than not trying at all, but I feel a bit of an under acheiver next to the Thomas family. We hope to keep learning and I think the more we learn perhaps the "easier" this new type of eating will be for us. So I can say that the Thomas family along with the Invonvenient Truth have really helped us to make the change. Thanks, Ellen & Josh (and Al Gore)!
Great insight Andy! I especially like what you have to say about people saying "you're going to scare me". I think often we go through our lives with our eyes and mind shut so that things don't become too hard.
Kate, don't ever feel like you are an under achiever! I truly wish everyone would just start being a concientious eater...just thinking about what you are eating is a step in the right direction!
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