Climate Change - It's Not All or Nothing

 

Polarized Views

Social media posts about the environment more often than not advocate one or other extreme view depending on the which side of the divide the poster sits. We are either told "Stop worrying. It's all a hoax and there is no need to change anything" or, "Stop (insert: burning fossil fuel, dairy, eating meat, using plastic, deforestation, etc. as you choose)  immediately, or we are all doomed!"

Both of these polarized positions are unhelpful in a debate about the environment because, as well as probably being untenable, they turn off a large proportion of the population, preventing them from taking any action at all. If we have an all or nothing viewpoint and discover all or nothing is impossible, we tend to switch off and not consider the "more or less" possibility.

We need to think of most environmental problems and solutions, not from either side of a divide, but as a position on a continuum. Depending on your own circumstances, it simply may not be possible to stop doing something environmentally harmful. However, you may be able to take action to reduce or mitigate that harm. Your pragmatic action to reduce harm sits somewhere on a continuum between doing nothing and preventing the harm altogether. And those smaller steps add up to significant change, even if not meeting the ideal.

Measure results and Enjoy Your Success

Use the Right Scale

One of the problems about taking these small steps is that they seem insignificant on the global scale, so we tend to be discouraged. Sometimes, to motivate ourselves to take positive steps we need to think on the micro, local scale rather than the macro, global scale. Here is an example from my own life. 

An Example

The environmental effects of modern transport are huge factor affecting the global environment, including climate change. In 2014 I got to thinking about what we could do to minimize our personal contribution to the problem.  Not having personal long-range transport wasn't a viable option, so what to do?

Our faithful old Nissan Maxima was getting a little the worse for wear. We replaced it with a new Hyundai Accent, bearing in mind our current and future needs, along with the environmental and economic benefits of a smaller car. This resulted in a reduction of fuel consumption from about 12 to 6.7 litres/100km. If my maths are correct, that is a 44% reduction in consumption and in emissions! On a global scale, that change is immeasurably small, but at the personal level, we feel justified in giving ourselves a pat on the back and have been encouraged to see what other steps we can take to leave a lighter footprint. It all adds up.

My first point is that the big problem is so daunting that we are inclined to give up and do nothing. By focusing down to the personal level, we are encouraged to take steps because the effects of the changes we make are clearly measurable and we can enjoy feeling positive about what we have done.

My second point is that this was not an all-or-nothing solution. We gave up nothing to achieve our improvement. Sure, it would have been nice to find a zero-emission solution, but instead of feeling bad about not getting to zero we can choose to feel good about the improvement we have achieved. A 44% reduction in emissions from private cars would be a big step in the right direction if we all could do it!

Conclusions

• Don't fall for the "all or nothing" argument. It's OK to move in the right direction, even if the result isn't perfect.
• To motivate yourself, measure the results, using the right scale.
• Take time to congratulate yourself for the advancement you have made, reflecting on the gains.
• Be encouraged, and then think about what else you can do.