A Menu for Making a Difference by Duane Elgin

7. A Menu for Making a Difference
If we are to build a sustainable, compassionate, and creative planetary civilization, it will be essential to respond in ways that are proportional to the challenges that we face. At least three dimensions of change seem essential:

Sustainable Direction -- The Earth cannot sustain eight billion or more people striving to emulate the American version of a high consumption way of life. We need to invent new ways of living that are sustainable -- physically, socially, and spiritually.

Sufficient Speed -- We will have to match the speed of our response to the swiftly changing situation. Even if we move in the right direction, our actions could easily be too little and too late.

Adequate Scope and Depth -- Only broad and deep changes -- as great as the shift from the agrarian to the industrial way of life -- will be adequate. The changes required need to be both far-reaching and fundamental; we cannot expect marginal measures to suffice.

At present, in most developed nations, high consumption lifestyles are being promoted as the global norm; mass-media programming and advertising are largely ignoring the approaching evolutionary challenge; and people making only limited and marginal adjustments in how they live, work, and consume. Is a wake-up call needed to let humanity know that we are entering a unique time of collective choice? If so, what kind of wake-up call would be appropriate? Consider two possibilities that illustrate the spectrum of response.
First, imagine a mother working in her flower garden. She looks up to see her six-year-old daughter playing with matches near the family car. She considers whether to allow the child to light the matches and possibly burn her fingers, thinking that this may be a chance for the girl to learn a painful but useful lesson. After mulling this over, she calls out in a scolding voice for her daughter to put the matches down and continues working in the garden.
Now imagine a slightly different scene. The mother looks up and sees her daughter playing with matches, but this time notices an open can of gasoline right next to the girl. Realizing that if the child lights the match, her daughter could be crippled for life or killed, the woman instantly screams for the child to stop, and rushes over to remove her from danger.
Which response fits our situation? Metaphorically, are we just playing with matches? Or are we playing with matches next to an open can of gasoline? If the world's senior scientists are correct and humanity is on the verge of irretrievably mutilating our global home, then what response is appropriate?
It is important to emphasize that, although this report is concerned with global trends and challenges, the responses suggested here are focused primarily on the United States. By focusing on the U.S., it brings more depth to the menu of possible actions. Furthermore, Americans have to make an historic choice: whether to be remembered through history as the nation that pioneered the way of living that irretrievably mutilated the biosphere, or to be remembered as the nation whose citizens mobilized themselves to explore, invent, and build a sustainable and meaningful future. At this point in history, Americans need to choose which future will be their lasting legacy to the world. This is a choice that will reverberate throughout society -- in businesses, churches, civic organizations, governments, and nonprofit organizations.
Let us look then at an illustrative menu of actions suggested by a wide range of people, including a number of reviewers of the initial draft of this report. These suggestions are not offered as a check list for a politically correct path to sustainability; rather, they are intended as a brief and suggestive menu of possibilities -- a menu that could start conversation about what we can do to create a sustainable, sociable, and soulful future.
Small-Group Conversations
Our ability to communicate enabled humans to evolve to who we are today, and it will be our ability to communicate with one another that will enable us to respond to the challenges ahead of us. Perhaps the simplest and most important action we can take is to talk with one another, both personally and professionally, about the challenges we face as well as our hopes and visions for a workable and meaningful future. In living rooms, classrooms, meeting rooms, and board rooms, we could strike up fresh conversation's about humanity's future. Face-to-face conversations can have unexpected power: they can be a vehicle for shared learning that clarifies what we care about, strengthens our commitment to constructive change, and informs what actions are most appropriate for building a sustainable future. 120
Few opportunities now exist for us to explore with others our personal vision of a positive future for humanity. Yet, without a hopeful image of the future to be drawn toward, people will tend to withdraw and focus on the short term. "Where there is no vision," says the Bible, "the people perish." We cannot build a future consciously that we have not first imagined. We are a visual species. When we can see it, we can build it. We can apply our uniquely human skills of visualization to the creation of a positive, long-term future. The power of positive visualization is widely recognized in the realm of personal mind-body medicine but we have been slow to apply this wisdom to the healing of our social mind-body. Positive visions can be a catalyst for positive actions, which reinforce the power of creative visioning, which can set into motion a self-fulfilling spiral of constructive development.
Because the entire world is caught up in a process of globalization, we are all in transition and "between stories." The human family is just beginning to discover and give voice to our common story that includes, but goes beyond, the stories of our past. It is understandable that we do not yet have a common story for how we want to orient and organize ourselves in the emerging era. The human family has not yet developed a sense of common purpose that mobilizes our collective efforts and draws out our enthusiastic participation in creating a new life together. One of the major challenges before us is to find that compelling evolutionary story together -- a new "common sense" -- a sense of reality, identity, and social purpose that we can hold in common and that respects our radically changing circumstances. How can we create such a vision or story? Let us look at some possible ways.

Study circles -- These are typically small groups of a half-dozen to a dozen people who gather together to speak from the heart and learn from the collective wisdom of those assembled. Study circles build a feeling of community around the concerns being explored. Members agree to respectfully listen to others without interruption. People engage in spirited conversation and seek to understand the perspectives of those with whom they disagree. There are innumerable topics to discuss: What challenges does humanity face? What are the factors that can turn adversity into opportunity? What is your vision of the future -- 25, 50, 500 years from now? How can we live sustainably? What actions can I take now to live more sustainably?

Churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, meditation halls, and kivas -- Houses of worship could intensify their inquiry into humanity's soulful direction at this critical juncture in history. These spiritual centers could also collaborate in the creation of a higher common vision that includes a soulful dimension. From that perspective: What ways of living are appropriate in this new era? What are the guiding spiritual priorities for this time of historic transition? What kind of ethical relationship should we develop with one another and with the Earth's ecosystem? What actions could be taken to promote justice and reconciliation in a world divided by gender, wealth, race, religion, geography, and more? What is the role of faith communities as growing numbers of people seek a more experiential or firsthand spirituality? What life-paths are sustainable and soulful for people and communities?

Classrooms -- What is education for if not to learn about and think creatively about humanity's past, present, and future. Educators could develop creative, positive, and empowering curricula for primary and secondary education that are relevant to the emerging future. Reconciliation could become a core area of learning; the processes and skills of conflict resolution could be taught in the classroom. For adults, opportunities for lifelong learning could be assured so people can acquire the knowledge and skills needed to build a sustainable future. All educational institutions could make it a priority to train people to be self-initiating leaders for sustainability.

Community and professional groups -- Many organizations have local chapters that meet as discussion groups. Issues of sustainability and a possible evolutionary inflection could be integrated into ongoing conversations. Professional groups (such as doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers) could explore the meaning of a sustainable future in the context of its unique profession and could take actions appropriate to that profession (for example, an engineer may focus on sustainable energy technologies, and a lawyer may focus on the legal rights of future generations).

Mass Communication and Consensus-Building
Grass-roots conversation and mass communication are two sides of the same coin when it comes to meaningful social transformation. Both are essential: we need practical grounding through face-to-face communication at the local level, and we need a working consensus achieved through mass communication at the regional, national, and global levels. Let us consider several realistic, though bold, innovations in communication that can make a local-to-national conversation about our future possible. 121
Lester Brown, president of the Worldwatch Institute, has written that "while heads of the world's major news organizations may not have sought this responsibility, only they have the tools to disseminate the information needed to fuel change on the scale required and in the time available." 122 These innovations focus on television because it dominates the culture and consciousness of the United States and much of the world. Three social innovations could support an unprecedented leap forward in our capacity for dialogue about our common future:

Earthvisions -- "Earthvisions" are 30-second mini-stories that portray a sustainable and meaningful future for the Earth. Low in cost and high in creativity, Earthvisions could be produced by ordinary citizens -- young people, civic organizations, and community groups -- and done with playfulness, compassion, and humor. They could, for example, focus on humankind's connection with the web of life, or on positive visions of the future from the perspective of other animal species or future generations. The public could be delighted with these refreshing and positive perspectives. Once underway, a virtual avalanche of Earthvisions could emerge from communities across the country (and world). Equipment could be donated by individuals as well as public-access TV stations. Air time could be donated by the major stations as broadcasters have a legal responsibility to serve the public interest. Alternatively, air time could be purchased through the support of sponsors.

Electronic Town Meetings -- Democracy has been called the "art of the possible." To know what is possible, we must communicate with one another. Power in a democracy is the power of citizens to communicate among themselves and to build a working consensus. The New England Town Meeting and citizen dialogues could be brought into the electronic era. Electronic Town Meetings (or ETMs) could take the form of weekly televised dialogues on key issues. ETMs could include nearly instantaneous "advisory votes" from a scientific sampling of citizens in that community or region, giving a fairly clear picture of the collective sentiments on the particular issue or concern. Regular electronic town meetings, when combined with grass roots dialogues (such as study circles) could rapidly bring people's perspectives and priorities into public view. When the will of the public becomes clearly visible, then it can energize the political process. Abraham Lincoln understood this. "With public sentiment, nothing can fail," he said, "without it, nothing can succeed."
Furthermore, the wisdom of the public can be trusted. After reviewing half a century of polling public opinion in the United States, George Gallup, Jr. said that he found "the collective judgment of the people to be extraordinarily sound." 123 Often, he said, "people are actually ahead of their elected leaders in accepting innovations and radical changes." 124 Of course, simply involving people in choosing our pathway into the future will not guarantee that the right choices will be made; it will assure, however, that citizens feel involved and invested in -- rather than cynical and powerless about -- whatever choices are made.

Viewer Feedback Forums -- Television almost never turns its cameras around to look at itself and its profound consumerist bias. Ironically, the last taboo topic on television is television itself and how it is reinforcing a consciousness that threatens our future. Viewer feedback forums could use live polling of a random sample of citizens to explore the public's views and values. These forums could ask tough questions, such as the following: 125 Are the mass media creating a level of desire for material consumption that the planet cannot sustain? By programming television for commercial success, are we programming ourselves for ecological and evolutionary failure? How well does the media mindset fit the changing reality of our world? Is the media's obsessive concern with consumerism diverting our social attention from the challenges of sustainability and holding back our evolution?

Given that Americans have the unequivocal, legal right of access to the tools of mass communication, there is nothing except citizen inertia stopping a powerful, local-to-national conversation about a sustainable future.
Business and Sustainability
The opportunities for business in a sustainable future are enormous. Because a sustainable economy would serve not simply the wealthiest 10 to 20 percent of the population, but all of the people in the world, it would generate the most immense expansion of business opportunity in history. The opportunities include trillions of dollars in infrastructure in developing countries as well as entirely new forms of businesses -- such as renewable energy systems, organic agriculture, and Internet-based businesses. In writing about "Strategies for a Sustainable World" in The Harvard Business Review, Professor Stuart Hart states, "Over the next decade or so, sustainable development will constitute one of the biggest opportunities in the history of commerce." 126 Here is a diverse sampling of actions (again, with a focus primarily on the United States) that could help make that opportunity happen:

Invest pension and insurance funds in a healthy future -- Average Americans own the majority of the massive assets of pension funds and insurance companies. These institutions, however, are investing primarily for shorter-term profits in companies whose products (such as tobacco companies) will result in a lower quality of life for retirees in the future. People could use study circles at the local level and electronically supported dialogues at the regional and national levels to put pressure on pension funds and insurance companies to invest their funds in companies that will produce a higher quality of life when people retire. 127

Rezone cities for eco-villages and sustainable neighborhoods -- Creative zoning laws would allow new urban forms, such as eco-villages and micro-communities to emerge. In these neighborhood communities, small businesses that are well adapted to local conditions and needs could flourish. Economic life could become more decentralized, and this could create a local net of security and sustainability during a time of sweeping global change.

Mobilize the Internet for sustainability -- Through the internet, people can find the tools, knowledge, and skills needed to recreate their lives for sustainability. If you want to learn about solar technology for heating, or photovoltaic technology for electricity generation, or intensive urban gardening for supplemental sources of food, you can simply log on to the internet. With this entirely new means of accessing information and shopping, new forms of businesses will emerge, providing consulting services as well as products ranging from renewable energy systems to organic agriculture, tele-education, tele-medicine, and micro-markets for small businesses.

Change the tax laws to favor sustainability -- We can alter our tax laws to encourage energy conservation and a shift to renewable energy resources. One way would be to tax the consumption of resources (such as minerals, water, and timber) and the pollution of the environment. 128 We can also eliminate tax deductions for advertising expenses as they are essentially a huge public subsidy to corporations to promote a consumerist lifestyle.

Shift from "things to services" -- Pollution and waste are dramatically reduced when a single company is responsible for the entire life cycle of a product. In turn, one way to achieve resource efficiency, says Paul Hawken, in "Natural Capitalism," is to understand products as a means to deliver a service to the customer. 129 He cites the example of the Interface carpet company, a $1 billion multinational carpet and flooring company that now offers an "Evergreen Lease" for their carpet tiles. Instead of simply selling the tiles, Interface leases its carpeting service to the building owners. As old tiles wear out and are replaced, they are recycled into new tiles. The customer only pays a constant monthly fee for fresh looking and functional carpeting. The principle of thinking about products as services rather than things can be applied to many types of goods, including cars, refrigerators, and televisions. The company then owns the product throughout its life cycle and would be motivated to design things that are easy to repair, disassemble, and recycle.

Redefine business success -- It is difficult to have a healthy business in a sick world. Economic health and environmental health go hand in hand. In the past, businesses have been able to optimize their performance without worrying much about the environmental consequences of their actions. Now, with climate change, resource depletion, and other forms of global stress apparent, businesses are shifting to a new way of viewing their role in the world. Instead of focusing strictly on profits, companies are beginning to shift to triple bottom line accounting -- assessing the economic viability, social impact, and environmental consequences of their operations. Michael Ray, professor of business at Stanford and Alan Rinzler of the World Business Academy describe the essence of this shift in their book The New Paradigm in Business: "The overarching objectives of new paradigm business are essentially the awakening and personal development of everyone associated with it and the corresponding service to the surrounding community." 130 Personal development and service to the community -- these are new goals by which to measure success in the business world. In turn, this new perspective could lead to changes such as full life-cycle accountability as manufacturers take back and recycle products at the end of their useful life.

These are just a few examples of how the economy could shift to support a more sustainable approach to production, advertising, consumption, and recycling. A flood of creative invention could occur if supported by market forces and a new consumer consciousness.
Personal Actions
Changes at every level are needed for us to realize an evolutionary leap forward -- such as sustainable patterns of consumption at the individual level; new types of housing and community at the neighborhood level; new policies with regard to energy, the environment, and education at the national level; and new partnerships among people from the local to the global level. Although changes are needed at every level, the foundation for the future is the individual and the family.
Each person can make a meaningful difference by being responsible for changes in his or her life. Small changes that seem insignificant in isolation can accumulate into a tidal wave of change when undertaken simultaneously by millions. If voluntary actions by individuals are one of the hallmarks of the transition into this new era, then we can move no further and no faster than the overall community of free individuals is intending to go. The conscious, self-directing actions of free individuals, responding in concert, is a core requirement for an evolutionary bounce.
Here are a few examples of the kinds of changes that we could make in our personal lives that could accumulate into an avalanche of change in our collective lives:

Cultivate a more intimate connection with the Earth and a reverential concern for nature. In knowing that the ecology of the Earth is part of our extended "body," we will tend to act in ways that express great care for its well-being.

Use consumption politically by boycotting the goods and services of companies whose actions or policies you consider unethical.

Buy only what is really needed and then purchase products that are durable, easy to repair, nonpolluting in their manufacture and use, recyclable, and energy efficient.

Retrofit dwellings for greater energy efficiency and savings.

Buy a car that gets excellent gas mileage. Use public transit, car pool, move closer to work, ride a bike, or walk.

Shift your diet away from highly processed foods toward foods that are locally grown, lower on the food chain, and that are in a whole and natural condition.

Reduce clutter and complexity by giving away or selling things that you seldom use (such as clothing, books, furniture, appliances).

Pursue a livelihood that directly contributes to the well-being of the world.

Cultivate a compassionate concern for the world's poor. In feeling a sense of kinship with people around the world, we will naturally tend to live in ways that reflect our concern for justice and equity in the use of the world's resources.

Develop personal skills that contribute to greater self-reliance and reduce dependence on experts to handle life's ordinary demands (such as basic carpentry, plumbing, appliance repair, and gardening).

Move from power to partnership in gender relations. Cultivate nonsexist patterns of relationship.

Appreciate the importance of nonverbal forms of communication-the eloquence of silence, hugging and touching, the language of the eyes.

Take part in creating new forms of community such as co-housing and eco-villages.

Explore holistic health-care practices that emphasize preventive medicine and the healing powers of our bodies and minds.

Engage in compassionate projects such as protecting local rivers or distant rainforests, dolphins and whales. Use nonviolent means to achieve your ends.

Develop the full spectrum of your personal potentials: physical (running, yoga, the inner game of tennis); emotional (learning the skills of intimacy and sharing feelings); mental (developing both your rational and intuitive faculties); and spiritual (allowing every aspect of life to become an object of contemplation and appreciation).

As these examples illustrate, there is an enormous array of creative actions people can take. A tremendous amount of lifestyle innovation is stirring at the grassroots level, although it has been largely ignored by the mainstream media until recently. Given the surveys that show growing sympathy and support for a sustainable way of living, American culture and consciousness could break out of the box of consumerism. 131 As a nation, we could break free from this limiting mindset with a new national project -- that of discovering and building a sustainable and meaningful future. Instead of straining to maintain systems that cannot endure, we could consciously make the transition to a sustainable society and economy. Instead of being known for an obsessive focus on the ego and individual consumption, Americans could become recognized as a globally conscious people concerned with developing the human psyche and soul, and a sustainable future. We could do well for ourselves by serving the world.
Whole-Systems Innovation
Because a whole-system change seems essential if we are to achieve this evolutionary leap forward, it means that every area of life will be affected -- the work that we do, the investments that we make, the transportation that we use, the homes and neighborhoods in which we live, the food that we eat, the clothes that we wear, and much more. Because the entire fabric of our lives is affected, it will require a whole-systems shift to realize an evolutionary leap forward. We require the networking and cooperation among countless organizations (nonprofit organizations, businesses, and philanthropists) with the goal of building partnerships on behalf of a sustainable and meaningful future -- environmentally, socially, and spiritually. These networks could provide a catalyst for dialogue and whole-systems innovation proportional to the challenges and opportunities that we face.

Go to next section

© Copyright 1999, Duane Elgin
duane@awakeningearth.org

by
© Campaign 2020 Initiative
Hosted by the Union Theological Seminary
Co-founders: Holland L. Hendrix, PhD and Deborah E. Stern
515 Madison Avenue Suite 725
New York, NY 10022
Posted with permission of Duane Elgin
New Horizons for Learning

http://www.newhorizons.org
E-mail: info@newhorizons.org