Zero Carbon Caravan

By Jonathan Ward

I am still a few years shy of 30, yet it feels already to me that being involved in environmental campaigning is a long-haul (pun not entirely intended).

There are many problems facing environmental campaigners, but I have begun to feel that some of the strategies are looking at human nature and the zero-carbon transition from the wrong angle.  Environmentalists always say this is a critical time, that the window of opportunity is closing. So I’ll just have to hope that the facts surrounding human-induced (anthropogenic) climate change, unsustainable resource use and wide-spread environmental degradation persuade you that, yes, this time we really are in a pickle and now is the time to be acting. Acting big, thinking big. Piecemeal solutions will only delay the inevitable, we need to take our lives back to the drawing board and start afresh.

And this is where the problem lies. Campaigners have long seen the ecological problems inherent in our lifestyles, and made it known that we should change our behaviour accordingly. Now we all know it is for a good cause, we /should/ all be doing this.

We, as a society are not though. Why? Consider this. Environmental campaigns as a generalisation are designed by environmental campaigners, who are willing to make such changes. Obviously you might say! Aha….! You probably already see where I am going here. Seeing this problem from our own logic is illogical. Clichés such as preaching to the converted don’t really do this justice. I believe there is more equivalence in the self-regulation of financial markets by financiers. It has no outside perspective. I’d like to quote <http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/apr/18/boris-cyrulnik-children-trauma> the psychologist Boris Cyrulnik, that being able to “put yourself in the place of another is probably the foundation of morality”.

Having gone this far, I should not stop at saying that we are missing a perspective in how we try tackle the problems we face. We are forgetting human nature. What we believe is right in ourselves, our own empirical views, cannot easily be projected onto the rest of mankind. What we want is a better world, and yet we send out a message of sacrifice based on moral and ethical principles. We say, or appear to say, no to this, no to that, alongside dire predictions of the future. Fear is not the best motivator. Neither is preaching, and whether you agree it is preaching or not, what matters is public perception.

Human nature is to avoid losses, to make our lot better. If the message to people is one of sacrifices without gains, it is bound to fail. It is also human nature to filter out facts which scare us, and to filter out situations we perceive as being beyond our control. People are saturated with fearful, accurate, stories in the media. They see the gap between rhetoric and action at political level, and the sheer scale of the problem is daunting. Is it any wonder people are finding it hard to be individually motivated?

But all is not lost, this our chance to take this vital window in human history and change our bad habits for, yes for, something better.

No longer do we need to talk of sacrifices, just of changes, improvements. Forgotten amongst the increasing inertia of our modern lives is the concept of well-being. Now it has been captured by think-tanks (such as the New Economics Foundation), development workers and psychologists. Indeed, a quick read of Oliver James’ ‘Affluenza’, or the ‘Selfish Capitalist’, will convince any reader that our ill-conceived bout of debt-fuelled consumerism has left us not only economically and ecologically bankrupt, but emotionally bankrupt too. Cyrulnik <http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/apr/18/boris-cyrulnik-children-trauma> sheds some light at the root of our modern emotional malaise by pin-pointing an inverse correlation between wealth and the strength of family relationships.

Let’s face it, apart from the first moments, stuff does not make us happy. It lurks in our houses demanding attention to justify it’s purchase. It fills our lives with demands and noise and more costs and…you know it, deep down. It fills a hole, gives us moments to aim for, but it is only fleeting.

Changing our modes of buying can bring real changes to our well-being, and so too, to the environment. Buying less is the first step, separating our needs and wants. Try a little experiment, don’t spend anything for a day. You’d be surprised how impulsive you begin to feel, just to buy something, anything. It’s a good feeling when after a while you enter a shop and realise you didn’t want anything and leave again. You become aware of how accustomed you have become to finding satisfaction in consumerism. And of course, the guilt when you get home and wonder whether you should have bought it.

It is not just about buying fewer commodities. Money can be put towards clearing our debts, living within our means….but much more than that. Money can be used to help others and ourselves, to enjoy food and music, culture and beauty. An economy does not just have to revolve around stuff. It can meet needs and free time and resources for well-being. Life is short from any perspective, surely it deserves a better consideration.