Happy Earth Month: How 10% Effort Does More than 100% When It Comes to Sustainability
Based on what your social and news feeds look like, Earth day (April 22), Earth week (April 18-22), and/or Earth month (April) can conjure up tough emotions of distress, depression, and hopelessness. What else would we expect when the dates meant to honor the earth are swallowed up by the very true messaging that we’re on course for climate disaster within our lifetime?
But, without sweeping this crisis under the rug, I want to offer a softer take this week. Without forgetting the scary things, like corporations’ majority responsibility for Earth destruction, I’d like to create space to focus on the good.
I want to focus on how wonderful it is to be able to love our Earth mother through small, sustainable acts of kindness, and healing our inner world through mindfulness so that we may be of better service to the outer world.
Across all our devices, you may be seeing messaging from companies and influencers alike about what you can do to help the environment. And many of these accounts are true-intentioned, such as sharing resources, places to donate, ways to learn, and more. But many of them, unfortunately, feel incredibly performative. It is an onslaught of businesses telling you that your dollar at their business is better for the environment than at other businesses-- when really the effort behind their sustainability is miniscule or even nonexistent
The Hollow Greenwashing of Corporate Sustainability
Because each generation has grown more attuned to sustainability, it makes sense that businesses would need to catch up to consumer expectations, however it’s more often than not hollow greenwashing. “Join us in the fight to stop us from destroying the earth,” is how one meme put it.
Meanwhile, the trauma porn and shaming that occurs at each interaction works in opposition to the real goal: mindfulness, compassion, and love for self, others, and the earth. Because if, even for the sake of information spreading, are constantly shown horrific images or shaming messages, we as humans simply end up in despair and less capable of making a positive difference than before.
The Importance of Mindful Self Care as an Integral Part of Activism
We’ve spoken before about how Instagram infiltrates our subconscious, and just earlier this month we had a podcast episode on how transforming your inner world is one of the best ways to transform the outer world. So rather than spend Earth day/week/month scrolling aimlessly and purchasing metal straws, let’s think about the positive, actionable steps we can take that truly make a difference.
Take this concept from Anne Marie Bonneau’s book The Zero Waste Chef, where she gives a great example and discusses the outcomes of 10,000 people reducing their trash waste:
If 1% (100 people) reduced their waste to essentially zero (or 100% in a year), we would reduce 164,250 pounds of trash.
If 25% of those people (2,500 people) reduced their waste by 25% in a year, we would reduce 1,026,562 pounds of trash.
If 100% of the 10,000 reduced their waste by only 10% in a year, we would reduce 1,642,500 pounds of trash.
She illustrates that it’s actually 100% of people committing to a 10% change that makes a bigger positive impact than 10% of people making a 100% change.
She shares that “everyone doing a little bit makes the biggest impact of all three of these scenarios… Zero waste isn’t an all or nothing proposition… you can live a little bit zero waste. Some of the changes necessary to reach that 10% goal, which just about everyone can do, won’t hurt one bit.”
For another example, consider the environmental benefits of going vegan. This does not mean that you and 9 of your friends can “do your part” by becoming 100% vegan. Rather, you can have a greater impact by inviting lots of people to make a smaller change, such as 1 vegan meal per week. Replacing that one Friday night dinner with a vegan option. Just as we shared in our posts about healthy habit building, this small change is much more sustainable for YOU, and therefore more sustainable for the planet (because you’ll actually stick to it).
This approach for Earth month, with the numbers to back it up, is far more manageable, making it less a discussion of despair, therefore able to garner more implementation and action. A little bit actually goes a long way, in the long run.
And lastly, when thinking about how your scrolling habits may be infiltrating your subconscious (your inner world, your mental health, your ability to be your best self), consider the small, sustainable ways you may be able to reduce your screen time in order to care for yourself. You don’t have to delete Instagram (100%), but I bet you could decide to set a 15 minute timer before you open the app, and set an intention to close it out when the timer goes off (1-10%).
In our endeavor to better love our Earth mother, we can easily get lost in the trauma of all that is happening.
So when you find yourself scrolling, or in despair over the state of our world, remember that self care and mindfulness has just as much of an impact as, say, being a public activist (Tune into the last episode on Sacred Activism). Transforming your inner world and habits, even by 1%, has the positive impact you’re looking for.
You and I can have a tremendous impact, and it’s not necessary that we inundate ourselves with bad news and catastrophic thinking in order to get there.
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Want more on this topic? Tune into the corresponding episode here.