Will organic farming alleviate chronic disease, hunger, and poverty?
Will green living change culture and pollution?
Will activism change policy?
They all have the potential.
Beyond the acts of environmentalism itself, are the other tools of the world necessary to grow the movement, to inspire people, and to innovate new ways of doing things.
How do you promote environmentalism?
Marketing and Communication: Art, Music, Writing, Media.
How do you ensure the movement thrives?
Solidarity
Conscious Evolution
Business
Social Culture
Innovation
Environmentalism exists in relationship to all other things important in life – it can’t stand on its own.
Environmentalism is an extension of consciousness. An awakened mind cannot ignore the Earth, nor anything else that stimulates conscious evolution.
Basically, everything is important. Not just environmentalism, but also communication, art, media, business, culture, and innovation. It is only when these other tools are incredibly effective and mature, that environmentalism can also thrive.
Consider the Internet. Green living has exploded in popularity, very much thanks to the Internet. Information travels faster, farther, to more and more people. Without the invention of the Internet, the environmental movement wouldn’t be where it is today.
Culturally, fear inhibits conscious evolution. A culture of nurturing acceptance is the “environment” in which environmentalism can grow and thrive.
And so, I dare say environmentalism isn’t everything. It’s very very important, and is the calling of my soul, but still, it isn’t everything.
What’s important is not necessarily my personal lifestyle, though that is a big factor, but rather what it is I give to the world.
Research on forest ecosystems? Yes, please.
Art that inspires sustainability? Yes, yes, yes.
Educating children about organic gardening? Super Yes.
Socially conscious business that keeps on giving? Right on.
Research, art, education, business. Each of these is a traditional school of thought, with its own set of time-tested theories and beliefs. They most likely had little to do with the environment and perhaps even participated in its destruction. These theories only came about through millenia of evolutionary discourse. The movement thrives on these tools. And they are still tools at the end of the day, capable of being used for good or evil.
What ties everything together?
Consciousness.
To be conscious means to be fully aware of your intentions, values, and the widespread impact of your chosen actions. The tool itself doesn’t matter, the important question to ask is, How consciously are you using it?
Photo by Jaymi Heimbuch
Wonderful post, Lynn ~
When we become more mindful and conscious we make better choices.
Thanks, Nancy!
Hey Lynn
Being conscious in all that we do is very important – including taking action to protect the planet. For me it all starts with each of us, we must each individually take responsibility to live as sustainably as possible. We are then able to spread the word and, through our actions, invite others to do the same.
I think it’s really interesting that the internet facilitates this and yet the mining of compounds essential for modern computers is not environmentally friendly at all. In addition the huge servers that are required to run the web, from facebook to google, consume vast quantities of electricity (not much of which, I would hazard a guess, comes from renewable sources). It’s a strange position, and not one that I have reconciled with myself yet….
Steve
Hi Steve,
I agree, I do think it’s important that each of us live as sustainably as possible. But how much of our time and energy should be spent on living sustainably, and how much should be spent on growing the movement? Inevitably if you focus on one, it takes away from the other. Each of us has to find the right balance for ourselves.
You bring up a great point about the Internet. You could argue the same about books, documentaries, traditional art forms, and scientific research. Books use trees and chemicals, documentaries need cameras and film crews as well as travel fuel, art and science heavily use chemicals and plastic. None of these is very eco-friendly, but each of these is crucial to awakening minds. The core issue here is we don’t have sustainable industry, which ultimately stems from a love of money over love of life. I’m not sure what to do about it, except to keep trying to make a difference. I think it’s really important to not criticize too easily, and instead try to leverage the good from whatever’s available right now. Thanks for the comment.
Lynn
My conscious environmentalism has been to stop buying things I don’t need but just want. To recycle the things that I no longer use by giving them away or selling them.
I’m also eating locally as much as possible which means shopping at farmers markets, using my own bags and buying organic food that doesn’t come in a package.
I have not hooked up my printer to my computer and it’s amazing how many things I don’t print out on paper that I would have just because it is there.
Thanks for your writing. A collective effort does make a difference.
Aloha Wags!
That sounds wonderful, Jt! Good for you. Thanks for sharing your comment.
Hm, very true! It is when we do things unconsciously that we devalue and disrespect things (and people!) and generally make a mess. I think consciousness also helps bridge gaps between such disparate fields as research, art, education, and business. It’s with an open mind and an open heart that we can discover how to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts!
Totally! It’s because of unconsciousness that we’re in this mess today. We’ll have to work together across cultural divides if we want to get something meaningful done.
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I am so caught up in the personal lifestyle bit, that I am finding it harder and harder to find how I can give to the world in a meaningful way. The way is out there, it just seems hard to find, to get to it, to figure out what my part is… This post really gets me thinking! I want to live my life in a meaningful way, and leave my place in the world better off when I leave than when I found it…
Hi Sherry, I totally understand the confusion. I am sort of stuck in this limbo between being the perfect greenie and giving something more to the community. It’s really tough because to stay green means you have to commit that time and energy to doing it, and that takes away from other things you could pursue. And I know I would hate to go back to being less green. I try to simplify a lot. For example I only use one bar of soap for everything – hair, body, shaving. That means I don’t have to worry about constantly making more of my own hair products. The other thing is, it’s really tough to figure out what you should give. You want it to have maximum impact, to be useful and important to the movement, so that’s probably the hardest thing to figure out.
I just got home from a talk by Vandana Shiva, and it was really great to hear her stories meeting with political officials and attending conferences around the world. I don’t necessarily have to be like her, but perhaps I could learn a thing or two. I think getting out to these types of events is really helpful. The more you go to them, the more you learn, and the more activists you can connect with. The talk is a part of the Justice Begins With Seeds conference in SF this weekend. Hopefully I can learn even more about building the anti-GMO movement there.
It’s also important to remember, you’re doing a lot already by going green! Just by doing that you will have left the world a better place. You’re inspiring others in the online world to do the same. I guess what I want to say is, don’t let this bring you down! You’re on the right track
We’re all exploring in our own ways, that fit in with our personal values, and I think that’s most important.