Despite being an overused cliche, "actions speak louder than words" is an idea to be encouraged. The e-cycle boom looks like a great example. Reducing by 1% the world's oil consumption is not something to ignore. Hopefully the savings are not lost when you do a full life cycle analysis of their production and use when compared to ICE veh…
Despite being an overused cliche, "actions speak louder than words" is an idea to be encouraged. The e-cycle boom looks like a great example. Reducing by 1% the world's oil consumption is not something to ignore. Hopefully the savings are not lost when you do a full life cycle analysis of their production and use when compared to ICE vehicles. Acknowledging personal responsibility is also something we need to spend a lot more time discussing and promoting. As much as it may seem that we are letting the corporate world off the hook in some way by focusing on our own actions I argue that we are not. These are not mutually exclusive things. By accepting our personal role in the crises we empower ourselves to act in a truly meaningful way that has concrete and immediate results. At scale the results can be astonishing. Taking personal responsibility and changing our behavior does not mean that we have to give corporate leaders a free ride. In fact, if we are diligent in taking both actions simultaneously it is likely that the sum of what we will accomplish will exceed greatly that which me might achieve by focusing all our energy in one direction or the other. There is no greater incentive to a seller of goods or services to improve, or even stop making, a product than consumers' collective decisions to stop buying products as they are now sold or at all. They will try desperately to keep you buying while changing nothing or little beyond their marketing pitch but if we who are the world's wealthiest and greediest consumers each work hard to suppress the insatiable part of our brain that, as an unfortunate by-product of our evolution in a world of scarcity, cries incessantly for more we can change everything. By constantly reminding the reasoning part of our brain that we will not starve if we spend time thinking hard before buying, that it is ok to burn fuel in the exercise of reason real progress is possible. Don't kid yourself, it is hard work and you will be fighting with yourself over it until you drop dead. You will have to knock down repeatedly the internal propaganda machine of your primitive brain that tells you that separating your recyclables or buying the slightly more fuel efficient SUV or whatever other BS story it conjures up lets you off the hook for the all the other crap you do that is killing the planet But it is possible and every time you make the effort you increase the chances you will make the effort again tomorrow and, with a little luck, reap the eternal gratitude of the future.
Despite being an overused cliche, "actions speak louder than words" is an idea to be encouraged. The e-cycle boom looks like a great example. Reducing by 1% the world's oil consumption is not something to ignore. Hopefully the savings are not lost when you do a full life cycle analysis of their production and use when compared to ICE vehicles. Acknowledging personal responsibility is also something we need to spend a lot more time discussing and promoting. As much as it may seem that we are letting the corporate world off the hook in some way by focusing on our own actions I argue that we are not. These are not mutually exclusive things. By accepting our personal role in the crises we empower ourselves to act in a truly meaningful way that has concrete and immediate results. At scale the results can be astonishing. Taking personal responsibility and changing our behavior does not mean that we have to give corporate leaders a free ride. In fact, if we are diligent in taking both actions simultaneously it is likely that the sum of what we will accomplish will exceed greatly that which me might achieve by focusing all our energy in one direction or the other. There is no greater incentive to a seller of goods or services to improve, or even stop making, a product than consumers' collective decisions to stop buying products as they are now sold or at all. They will try desperately to keep you buying while changing nothing or little beyond their marketing pitch but if we who are the world's wealthiest and greediest consumers each work hard to suppress the insatiable part of our brain that, as an unfortunate by-product of our evolution in a world of scarcity, cries incessantly for more we can change everything. By constantly reminding the reasoning part of our brain that we will not starve if we spend time thinking hard before buying, that it is ok to burn fuel in the exercise of reason real progress is possible. Don't kid yourself, it is hard work and you will be fighting with yourself over it until you drop dead. You will have to knock down repeatedly the internal propaganda machine of your primitive brain that tells you that separating your recyclables or buying the slightly more fuel efficient SUV or whatever other BS story it conjures up lets you off the hook for the all the other crap you do that is killing the planet But it is possible and every time you make the effort you increase the chances you will make the effort again tomorrow and, with a little luck, reap the eternal gratitude of the future.