To conclude my three-week column on ways environmentalism can be included in your day-to-day life, I want to emphasize what I believe is the most important part of all: continued learning.
The things I have had to say thus far about the importance of repair and of generally producing less waste were meant to offer additional ideas to the common things we hear about sustainability. My hope is that these can supplement other easy, small ways to be more careful about your consumption and waste.
Crucial to changing our impact is, simply, awareness. If we aren’t actively considering ways to address the habits we have, we are likely missing huge things. Something I have seen firsthand is that the more we think about the simple little things we can do, the more we are able to make changes. Changes to our way of life that are ultimately fairly simple and low effort are a great place to start. Spend time listening to those who know a great deal more than us about these issues. Use concerted time and effort to seek out more information and to think about things you might not mind giving up or changing slightly for a less-negative impactful footprint.
There are so many people working diligently to better understand and to educate on many areas of our environmental impacts — to ignore them is not only to ignore information that could help us, but also to miss even more things that are hurting the earth, each other, and ourselves all the time. It takes a huge amount of intentional effort to fight the big habits we have that are negative, but anything that we do is better than nothing. That isn’t to say we should stop with small things, but for many people, it is the best place to start.
The more you think about environmentalism, the more you will learn and have ideas about how to change. Even those who are very passionately into assessing and altering their effect had to start somewhere. Maybe their parents cared deeply about their environmental influence, and yours did not. That might just mean you should consider making up for lost time. Pass on anything that you learn to others in your life, and emphasize the importance of caring about how we are participating in a system of consumption that hurts the earth, our fellow human beings, ourselves, and our progeny. Take a class in sustainability; look up websites and articles about how much we affect and what we can do; subscribe to Earthkeepers emails through EMU; look at what is offered at places like Vine & Fig, the Harrisonburg Farmer’s Market, and Harrisonburg city; use your voice with your politicians.
I can almost guarantee you that anyone you engage with who you know is passionate about environmentalism will happily hook you up with interesting resources and important information. Have a conversation today with somebody who knows way more than some random guy in the student newspaper. Just be open — we can all be doing better.
