Sustainable living is a lifestyle change. It is a new self-image.
It defines who you are.
It is a different way of viewing yourself and your worldview.
If you try to keep your old self- and just make a few changes here and there it won't last. Especially if you see those changes as difficult or inconvenient.
Sustainability requires a new mind-set. It requires seeing yourself as part of a greater, interconnected whole. It puts you in the shoes of all the world's people. It helps you to think globally, while acting locally. It is a reflection of what type of person you are. It shows that you are a caring person- who cares for the people around the world who rely on the earth's systems for survival and wellness.
It means you are the type of person who values the natural things of the earth. It means you are an advocate of health and education, of prosperity and wellness. It means you want to slow down your lifestyle and appreciate the beauty around you. It means that you are responsible and not wasteful. It means that you think about how your actions affect others.
If you are your old self and you think, "I am saving water by turning off the tap" but then turn around and see your neighbor running their tap 24 hrs a day you might give up. If you are not a sustainable thinker you can easily find excuses to go back to your old ways because you haven't really changed.
You are not saving the world by your sporadic attempts to recycle or turn off the water... you are changing the world by changing who you are- the way you think and the way you speak to others and by the total example of your life and behaviors.
You are changing the world because you are changing yourself.
What has unsustainable actions brought us... overconsumption, deforestation, climate change, obesity, huge landfills, air pollution, traffic, water scarcity, poverty, water pollution, greed, species extinction, excessive debt, exclusivity, destruction of the earth's systems, rampant disease (in rich and poor countries), soil erosion, widening of the rich and the poor, a physical infrastructure built on declining cheap oil (not to mention our whole economy), lack of food security, collapsing fisheries, and advancing deserts.
Do you really want to be part of that?
A sustainable thinker doesn't want that stuff on their conscience.
I believe that if you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
Its a new you.
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