20 Aug What’s Your Green Motive?

So, what's your motivation for being green?

DUH – what a silly question. Of course your motivation is to save the ENVIRONMENT, right?

But really, take a minute to consider the question.

What's your motive for being green? What's the underlying emotion that fuels most of your habits and activities that are intended to help the planet?

Maybe it's guilt. You drive a lot, and you feel guilty about that, so you try to consolidate errands. You eat fruit that comes from halfway across the planet, and you feel bad about that, so you try to shop at the farmer's market more. (Whatever you do, it never seems like enough. The guilt is still there.)

Maybe it's fear. Scientists warn there'll be dire consequences if humanity doesn't clean up its act, so you're trying to do your part to stave off disaster. You sign petitions; write your elected officials; switch to those weird curly light bulbs. (Whatever you do, it never seems like enough. The fear is still there, and so is the looming disaster. That polar ice just keeps melting. And those curly eco light bulbs have mercury in them.)

Maybe it's anger. You're outraged at the state of the world, and you're trying to do whatever you can to oppose all the bad stuff you see going on. You write angry letters; you glare at someone who dares to offer you bottled water. Maybe you even turn the anger inward on yourself by following a path of austerity and self-deprivation. (Whatever you do, it never seems like enough. The anger is still there — and so is the environmental damage, thanks to the horrible things all those OTHER PEOPLE are doing.)

Granted, there is a place for guilt and fear and anger. Given the damage that the human race has done and continues to do — to the land, to fellow members of our species, and to other species — we SHOULD be feeling all of these feelings.

But in the long run, those emotions aren't the best fuel for making the world a better place. They wear us out; make us cynical and intolerant; dampen our creative spark; shut down our empathy.

Other motivations seem to be producing better results. And those motivations are: LOVE and PASSION. 

People fueled by love and passion are making big positive change in the world. 

– People who love good local food (and people who love providing it) are creating huge crowds at farmers' markets and food trailers even in this tough economy.

– People who love making stuff have fueled a huge, and growing, DIY movement that is re-energizing our culture

– People with a passion for simple living are fueling a craze for de-cluttering, thrift stores, and tiny houses

– People with a passion for lively walkable urban environments are shunning the suburbs for a juicier (and lower-footprint) existence in cities.

– People with a passion for writing, filmmaking, painting, making music, are using their art to spread important messages

This is just a short list; you can find many better examples in your everyday life and in your reading.

Even people who aren't particularly focused on being green, are making the world greener by pursuing what they love (as opposed to pursuing what someone on TV tries to tell them they SHOULD love). 

So, what do you LOVE?

If what you love is the freedom to travel, then make that a priority. Don't saddle yourself with debt or a job that forces you to be in one place, just because society tells you that a young professional (or a mom, or a family man, or however you define yourself) needs a house and a regular job. Build yourself a location-independent job, and live where and how you really want to live.

If what you love is being able to walk or bicycle to a rich variety of cultural activities, and encountering lots of different types of people, then don't maroon yourself in the suburbs just to get a cheaper mortgage. Insist on living in the environment that feeds your soul, and build your life around that.

And if small-town living is what really makes you happy, then build your life around that. Small towns offer so many opportunities for people to make a difference. (The article "Reviving Small Towns – America the Creative", in the Recommended Reads section below, might offer some inspiration.)

Now, why would insisting on doing, being, and having what you love, and building your life around that, be greener? Off the top of my head I can think of several reasons:

– Happy people are satisfied with moderate consumption; unhappy people tend to feel the need to consume more.

– Happy people tend to have more friends. And friends tend to share resources more than people who aren't friends.

– People who build their lives around what they love, tend to prune away extraneous stuff rather ruthlessly. Consider the surf bum who lives in his van and only works the absolute minimum number of hours he needs to. Now, you don't need to go to that extreme. But you can still create positive change in the world by pruning away things that don't matter to you. For example, if you love the life of the city, you could afford it by accepting a smaller space or shared space, and still have a roof over your head. By pruning away things that don't matter (in this case a huge amount of space), you're making the world greener.

– People who have a passion, be it fishing or art or whatever, aren't as easy to subjugate. They're less likely to put up with unreasonable working conditions, for example, or unreasonable demands on their time. After all, they've got important stuff to do! I once heard a retiree, a white-collar professional who retired to a rural area, complain that he couldn't get any repair people to come to his house and fix stuff at certain times of the year (for example, during deer-hunting season). Similarly, I'm sure that some folks in Austin have noticed the huge drain of cheap hippie labor that takes place each year during the 18 days of the Kerrville Folk Music Festival. By keeping their priorities straight and focusing on what matters most to them, these footloose renegades manage to take huge chunks of time off work and still pay their bills.

– Happiness is infectious. Even if your definition of a happy lifestyle isn't the same as someone else's, your state of mind will rub off a bit on them, and perhaps serve as an invitation to them to explore their own priorities, really pursue what they love.

– Fear, anger, and guilt impede the mind's ability to come up with new ideas. Pursuing one's passions unleashes a huge amount of creative energy. The kind of energy that comes up with new ideas and solves problems.

So get out there and build your life around what you love. Prune away the excess junk. There's room on the planet for everyone, if we'll just tighten up and refine our priorities.

RECOMMENDED READS

What Makes a Happy Country?  "Various surveys have indicated that while wealthy western nations use up vast quantities of the world's scarce resources, many of their citizens are not much happier, or are indeed less happy, than those who belong to poorer countries that use far fewer resources. … It is revealing that countries reported to be happier tend to avoid undermining the ability of future generations to prosper and people in other countries to live fulfilling lives – in other words, countries that live within the limits imposed by the environment and ones that do not engage in neo-colonialism or imperialism. Perhaps this is why the US does not always do too well in these surveys."

Handbook for Life: 52 Tips for Happiness and Productivity:  — Post by Leo Babauta on zenhabits.net . Not incidentally, a lot of his tips end up being good advice for boosting your GREEN quotient and adding to the goodness in the world.

Start Your Own Happiness Project: "A “happiness project” is an approach to changing your life. First is the preparation stage, when you identify what brings you joy, satisfaction, and engagement, and also what brings you guilt, anger, boredom, and remorse. Second is the making of resolutions, when you identify the concrete actions that will boost your happiness. Then comes the interesting part: keeping your resolutions."

Seth Godin – my favorite motivational writer. Talks a lot about the importance of showing up and doing your REAL work, whatever that is for you. Launching your own projects, going out and making things happen. Rather than waiting to be "called on"!

Reviving Small Towns – America the Creative "Some surviving small towns have simply become bedroom communities for large cities, and have lost their character. But others deeper in the boondocks remain determined to beat off the doomsayers with creative ideas. In 1992 Hidalgo, a south Texas town, decided to capitalise on its site in the migration path of the dreaded African killer bees. The town boldly erected a 20-foot- (6 metre-) long statue of a bee, made from fibreglass and steel, and was promptly dubbed the “Killer Bee Capital of the World”. Tourists flocked in. … Similarly, tiny Colquitt (population 1,900) in southern Georgia, one of the poorest parts of America, has been revived by a storytelling festival known as “Swamp Gravy”. In the early 1990s someone had the bright idea of performing local folk-tales as musicals. The idea grew, and now some 40,000 people come each year to the festivities, which are held in a converted cotton mill. Many new businesses have opened on the town square, and sales triple when the Swamp Gravy show is on…"

We the Tiny House People  (YouTube video): From NYC to rural France: Tiny homes of people searching for simplicity, self-sufficiency, minimalism and happiness by creating shelter in caves, converted garages, trailers, tool sheds, river boats and former pigeon coops. 

Young Adults Shun Suburbs as U.S. Cities Boom  ""I will never live in the suburbs," said Jaclyn King, 28, a project director at a Denver hospital. King, who grew up in the Denver suburb of Littleton and attended Columbine High School, still remembers her parents' 45-minute train commute to the city each day for work. She now rents a Denver house with her fiancee. "I just like being connected to everything down here _ concerts, work, restaurants, all of it. This is where everything's at," said King, who biked 6 miles to her job on a recent morning.

Businesses are taking notice. "Companies are really seeking to meet the need of younger people who are choosing to live in cities," said Royal Shepard, an analyst with S&P Capital IQ in New York, who tracks the residential and commercial real estate market. The ratings agency has a "positive fundamental outlook" on residential real estate investment trusts, particularly those with holdings in multifamily apartment buildings, citing in part a demographic shift.