Valuing Value Changes

Throughout my blog post I have tried to demonstrate that habit formation is a powerful way to change one’s life.  I want readers to understand that habits can transform one’s life in many ways.  But ultimately, I want to demonstrate that our individual behaviors and societal traditions are relative and can be manipulated.  This course further demonstrated to me the abundant ways in which our society’s institutions are not always designed or implemented based on practicality or even morality.  Tsing explains that hunting and gathering was a more practical and efficient method of acquiring food-yet humans became cereal farmers.  Our decision to produce cereals is contingent on something other than pragmatism.  Tsing argues that the transformation to domestication and agriculture derives from the rise of The State.  The acquisition of State territories was often acquired through force and sometimes through mutually beneficial relationships between populations and The State.  State control and regulation allowed for many of our social, economic, cultural and political institutions to take shape.  These institutions offer two things that society values: familiarity and authority.  Familiarity breeds affinity, not just among people, but among people for their institutions.  I am sure many readers doubt the degree to which society values authority.  Yet, major offenses are committed by entities of authority and very little commotion is made of resulting afflictions.  The State is a system of authority and so are financial institutions like Wall Street or political institutions like the International Monetary Fund.  Society favors institutions of order and control because life is unpredictable.  Yet, these institutions betray the public through crises like the American mortgage/banking crisis or the crippling loan repayment agreements across the developing world.  These offenses persist, yet society’s response continues to demonstrate our affection for our broken and failing institutions.

This course has discussed our most fundamental global crisis: The Anthropocene.  The human race has continued to fail our environment largely due to something Martinez-Alier explained as the “incommensurability of values.”  It’s taken a semester for me to understand the true crisis of the Anthropocene.  Despite my discussions about habit formation and individual transformation in pursuit of individual and collective change.  I have come to realize that what we value matters more to environmental change than anything else.  Nadar explains that what fellow scientists valued in green technology dictated what green technology was considered useful.  Martinez-Alier explained that commercial gold miners valued gold more than indigenous persons’ right to water, food and shelter and environmental destruction in Peru.  Throughout my blog posts I was convinced that that our society’s traditions, customs and cultural values are so influential that they undeniably influence who we are as individuals.  I assumed that if we could expand our individualistic thinking by habitually trying to do things like recycle or engage in a collective activities that we could change ourselves and ultimately change society.  I wanted to demonstrate that if our individual behavior is changeable that our value systems are also malleable.  Likewise, what our society values, inside and outside our institutions can be reassessed.  If we can change our individual habits, we should be able to change our institutions.  But we have to value changing our values.

I appreciated this course more than most of the courses I have taken at KSU.  Environmental issues are important to me so I am fairly knowledgeable about many of the issues we discussed in class such as climate change, biodiversity extinction, and deforestation and so on.  Our discussions about the Anthropos in relation to the environment was new territory for me.  Understanding what it means to be human in relation to our environment is a new kind of philosophy for me.  Understanding our presumptions of what is ‘nature’ or what is ‘the environment’ demonstrates how influential our value systems can be.  I was also unaware of the serious extent to which humans have fundamentally changed the earth’s geological processes.

My journey throughout my blog posts has brought me back full circle to where I started-individual choices matter.  But they matter in a much different way than I assumed.  The best choice we can make as individuals within the Anthropocene is to choose to engage in collective thinking and to be open to new value systems.  Throughout this course, I have come to understand that there are very few environmental issues that don’t require radical reorganization of our economic, social, political and cultural institutions.  I focused on recycling because it is an individual choice that many people don’t pursue largely because we make up excuses for ourselves.  Throughout my blog posts I have experienced wayfaring.  I started this blog believing that our society’s obsession with individualism was so influential it disheartened attention to collective systems.  I continue to believe that our fixation for individualism is supported by our institutions and our value systems.  I have noticed that many great environmental pioneers were individuals who garnered support.  John Muir or Mary Pipher’s work in Nebraska is a great example.  Pipher’s organization started with her passion and her pursuit of action generated support.  We live within our current value system, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only value system.  Through my blog, I hope I demonstrated that we can change a wide spectrum of our personal habits-including our individualistic mania.  We must choose to rethink our obsession with individualism and we must choose to be open to a new value system.   Make a habit of making choices that assist the collective.  Make a habit of embracing the philosophy of wayfaring.  Habitually, reimagining our value system is the best choice we can make for the Anthropocene.

 

 

 

3 Found Ojects

It took me a long time to select my “found objects.”  There are so many possibilities that represent a different aspect of the environment for me.  Our conception of the environment is saturated by our cultural values.  The way we understand the environment determines the way we behave towards the environment.  The found objects I selected demonstrate various perspectives of the statement above. In this inquiry, I want to demonstrate ways we devise an image or interpretation about the environment.  This interpretation of the environment is consistently invented for our advantage.  Benefitting ourselves from environmental exploitation further shapes our beliefs and value system concerning the “environment.”  The items I selected are the following:  Vaporized gasoline; a piece of sea glass and a mirror.

Vapor or Gas? 

My husband came home one evening and told me that he read a few articles and watched a few informative videos which suggested that cars can run on gas vapor.  Naturally, I was amazed by the potential of this invention, but I waited for him to list off the technical issues or exorbitant costs involved.  This is not the case.  In fact, there is a rich history behind vaporizing gasoline.

Vaporized gasoline is an invention that has been devised many times.  Throughout the 1970’s and 80’s, many engineers and entrepreneurs developed various fuel saving technologies that utilized vaporized gasoline.  In different states at different times, inventors discovered and developed devices or systems that increased automobiles’ fuel efficiency dramatically.  Some specialists argue that gasoline has been vaporized as early as the 1920’s.  There have been several creators that designed systems they presented to automobile companies and attempts to paten the process of vaporizing gasoline.  Both the American and German militaries used vaporized gasoline to power their tanks.  Yet, the technology is not publically utilized and many misconceptions surround the technology.  Vaporizing gasoline offers many hopeful opportunities for the environment and public health.  Use of vaporized gasoline over gasoline improves the longevity of the engine dramatically.  Secondly, emissions from vaporized gasoline are not comparable to emissions from gasoline.  There are very minimal emissions from vaporized gasoline, which could dramatically change our air quality.  There has been a public outcry for more efficient and clean automobiles and so far all vehicles can use vapor.  Strangely, the public has been sold hybrid cars instead of vaporized gasoline.  Different vapor systems like the Tri-Fuel System or the Acetylene powered car or Flex Car have been developed.  Most hybrid cars offer between 30 to 60 miles per gallon while vaporized gasoline offers 100 plus miles per gallon.  This emission saving technology isn’t used.  Why the hell not? 

Laura Nader explained her experiences working with various scientists about energy issues.  Nadar argues that we have so much waste in our society that we could easily reduce without much change to our lifestyles.  I think vaporized gasoline is an example that falls within Nadar’s purview.  We limit what we think is possible based upon our value systems.  We live in a world, in an era where the environment is considered something to be consumed and profited.  I think many times we complicate solutions as Nadar describes.  We strive for consistent economic growth and vaporized gasoline wrecks the oil and natural gas industry.  There are arguments that vapor gasoline technology has been discouraged by our government.  But, we have seen economic growth chosen over environmental conservation time and time again.  Our choices are important and perhaps political authorities are making too many choices for all of us.  Nadar argues for straightforward solutions.  We need to inform policy makers that our values have changed and we value using available and efficient technologies like vapor gasoline.

Treasure or Trash?

The second found object that reminds me of a particular perspective of nature is a piece of sea glass.  Sea glass is sort of a trash to treasure item.  My husband and I collected sea glass from beaches throughout Puerto Rico.  I discovered that I liked making sea glass jewelry.  Each time I hold or wear sea glass it reminds me of responsibility… grave responsibility mixed with a desire to do my best not to participate in our trash culture.  As I mentioned previously, in this inquiry I want to demonstrate that we interpret or create an image of the environment that benefits us or provides us an advantage of some kind.  This way of thinking shapes our behavior, which further contributes to our value systems.  Human kind benefits from a disposable society.  We prefer to care less about what we throw away and more about what we buy.  We have busy lives that are filled with chores to improve our standard of living and our throwaway lifestyle provides needed convenience.  Convenience is helpful, but our trash culture is plaguing our oceans.  Sea glass represents so many different commodities and industries throughout our history.  When glass is tumbled throughout the ocean for a substantial amount of time (like years) it becomes very smooth and the colors become softer and cloudier looking.  Sea glass makes for a beautiful charm, but in many ways it represents our failure.  Humans’ trash tumbles through the ocean, in a way symbolizing how human systems have permeated natural systems.  Nature is no longer unadulterated.  Cronon explains that we often have false hope that we can evade our responsibility.  He argues that humans tend to believe their slates can be cleaned, persuading us to believe our illusions.  We assume that our oceans are vast, sacred and untouched spaces isolated from our polluted urban areas.  In reality, our oceans are trashed with sea glass and a million other products.  A piece of sea glass represents Cronon’s discussion in The Trouble with Wilderness.  We see sea glass on the beach and are thrilled to find a piece of ‘natural’ jewelry.  We are rationalizing our behavior and perpetuating the myth of “the wilderness.”  We understand sea glass as a treasure hunt on the beach because it allows us to make peace with our global trash dumps.

Emotions or Value Systems?

Many of our readings have discussed our emotional reactions to climate change and generalized environmental degradation.  Scholars like Piper and Norgaard argue that our feelings of despair often keep us from choosing action or considering change.  Articles like The Anthropocene explain the devastating and pervasive ways that human systems have fundamentally changed our natural systems.  So, the final found object I selected is a mirror.  Many of our readings have encouraged us to face our emotional response to climate change.  A mirror can symbolize embracing reality, or a true reflection.  In regards to this inquiry, I want this object to represent our willingness to observe our participation in climate change.  A mirror shows our true reflection, but we can distort the physical features of the mirror to produce a different reflection.  We can increase the size or shape of the mirror to produce a distorted reflection.  In the same way, we transform our values to insulate ourselves from our true reflection.  Cronon explains that how we understand ‘wilderness’ depends upon our cultural desires and expectations.  In turn, fulfilling these desires promotes the development of our value system.  Brugger explains in “Climates of Anxiety,” that our values are fluid and manipulated by our environment.  Brugger found that the rate of exposure to retreating glaciers influences one’s level of concern.  Living within proximity to the retreating glaciers heightened participants’ emotional response.  Glacier retreat stressed residents’ water supply, which conflicts with participants’ expectations.  Seeing the glaciers retreat mimics the symbolism of the mirror.  Witnessing the glaciers retreat is like looking in the mirror; we see the truth and it is emotionally shocking.  Our emotional reactions can change our value systems.  Unfortunately these symbolic mirrors aren’t always available in our backyard and we have to rethink our value system for ourselves.  A mirror represents a perspective that matters the most: how we as humans value our environment.  Nothing has changed the environment more fundamentally than humans’ value systems.  The way we value the environment dictates how we treat our environment.

Considering the Collective

A topic that my blog has discussed on occasion is the understanding that our society values individualism to the point that collectivism is considered an unusual alternative, or something unconventional.  Part of individualism is the idea that a person’s life and choices should improve their own interests.  An individual is considered to be a sovereign party and is the ultimate entity of moral concern.  This particular value system is the foundation of our American, Western culture.  The importance of individualism was evident in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  Our fetish for individualism continues to be demonstrated again and again in national politics.  We consistently reward the individuals who have increased their wealth and improved their standing.  Our society rewards the individual so frequently that when policies that concern the collective or the general constituency’s progress it’s surprising.  The new national health insurance program in the United States could be understood an example of collectivism.  Collectivism is the idea that an individual’s choices are not supreme.  The society is the unit of moral concern, which generates limitations for fulfilling one’s personal interests.  I am currently doing research on southwest Kansas counties that hyper-extract from the Ogallala Aquifer.  There are several historic, demographic and economic reasons that small and large scale farmers choose to hyper-extract from this natural resource.  The Ogallala Aquifer is one of the largest underground water resources in the world that sustains major civic and industrial institutions.  This is a critical common pool resource.  Is this an example of benefiting our community or ourselves?  Yet, it would be an economic hardship for some of these populations to change their water use habits.

This blog has discussed the various uses of habits in our lives.  We have discussed how to develop and execute a productive habit.  Utilizing the habits we create can help us with the process of self-transformation.  Whether you are trying to change much or little about your life, we can all benefit from considering our habitual thoughts.  This idea of habitual thinking refers to what we repeatedly think about and also what we consistently do not think about.  We typically don’t think about things that make us too uncomfortable.  This can be problematic if it limits the opportunities that we have for individual transformation and subsequently a collective or societal transformation.  Recently I read “Love Your Monsters” by Latour and he explained that modern societies practice a precautionary principle.  Latour (and previous scholars) argue that there is a fair amount of risk in modern societies and we mitigate the consequences.  There are two ways of carrying out the precautionary principle: 1. To be responsible only if consequences are certain 2. To be responsible for any and all consequences.  I think this is an important principle to consider when we wrestle with idea of participating in a more collectively minded culture.  Who and what are we responsible for?  I think that many of us understand that many elements of our culture will have to change to live in an environmentally sustainable world.  Yet, we habitually choose not to think about these changes we need to make.  We apply the precautionary principle and attempt to mitigate our “emotional risks” seeking healthier, happier survival.  Or perhaps we find ourselves simply overwhelmed by the overabundance of social justice issues we cannot change and emotionally shut off.  No matter the reason behind our habitual not thinking, we have to do something.  So here’s my suggestion:  Let’s start by trying to habitually think about participating in a collective society.  It doesn’t matter how you think about “the collective,” just think about it.  Imagine the possibilities if you could design a society’s cultural values.  Allow yourself to wonder what it would be like to live in this collective culture and how you would feel about it.

Perhaps living in a collective means changing many of our cultural habits.  Our society has the habit of stereotyping nature to be considered something monolithic like the Rocky Mountains.  Nature is the pristine landscapes and the community roof top garden.  Latour encourages us to consider ourselves as a collective that are responsible for all consequences we have come to face.  We can’t be responsible for only our individual problems anymore, serious changes like climate change force us to think outside the box.  Or rather think beyond our individualized, ‘inside’ boxes… and think bigger and more… collectively, together.

Collective Concern

My blog posts have revolved around the understanding that by using appropriate motivation strategies, we can develop strategically designed habits, which steers us to self-transformation.  I want us to experience these transformations for our own individual health, happiness and welfare.  Yet, my intentions in this blog are to demonstrate to my audience that these strategies can be used to reduce our environment impact and encourage our propensity for collective action.  At several points in my life, particularly during college, I was very involved in various organizations and lead or participated in several demonstrations.  Being the leader or participant of an organization is a space for so many things I enjoy: learning new things, talking to people, being connected to a cause and so on.  But, I remember my favorite part about participating in collective action was the way I felt afterwards; I felt satisfied somehow and awake or mindful… I felt empowered.  This sense of empowerment is not to be taken lightly, it’s to be reveled in and utilized.  Feelings of empowerment are so special that I find myself wishing I could reproduce this particular kind of inspired motivation on command.  As I said, I used to be very committed to organizations, so I was engaged in collective action frequently.  My peers’ energy re-invigorated my energy and my commitment to the causes I stand for, like minimizing my environmental impact and recycling.  At the time, I didn’t consider my participation in collective action to be a habit, but it was.  I was involved in various organizations for years throughout my high school, college and professional career when I lived in my home state.  When I moved to Kansas that part of my life virtually disappeared.  It took doing research for my blog to understand the full weight of this change in my life.  Like a flash of lightening, or eureka moment, I suddenly realized how different my life had become since my move to Kansas.  Without participating in socially minded organizations, I had lost the feeling of empowerment that I treasured for all those years.  For purposes of this blog, I have been monitoring my behavior and choices with regards to many things, particularly my environmental impact.  Yet, I hadn’t extended this logic to my lapse in collective participation.  The more I considered the last few years, the more I recognized how self- interested my behavior had become.  I moved to Kansas for graduate school scholarships and became quickly consumed with my studies, working through school and family complications.  As I reflected about this matter, I came to realize that I felt uncomfortable participating in collective action.  Perhaps it’s because I am less familiar with Kansas than my home state or because I have had a lot going on personally and academically.  But the truth is that these are all excuses and I am unfamiliar with the now foreign idea of acting in a collective.  Individualism is so thoroughly supported in our society that we are exceedingly more comfortable alone than we are participating in a collective.  What is unknown is unnerving.  Yet, there are so many reasons why we should overcome our apprehension.

My research into habit formation and my personal monitoring experiences have led me to understand that we should pay close attention to any occasion in which we start or stop something important and habitual in our lives.  I neglected to monitor the changes that occurred in my life when I moved and became a graduate student.  I didn’t really notice that I stopped participating in organization and demonstrations entirely.  Instead, I rationalized that loosing this important area of my life was a consequential sacrifice due to my waning free time.  Starting something new such as moving to a new place, changing accommodations, getting married, and planning a big trip, changing jobs and so on are all periods in our lives that can change our lives dramatically.  Specifically, these changes can be an opportunity to develop new, healthy habits.  On the other hand, these changes in life can cause disruptive periods that weaken our habits.

I never considered my participation in organizations and demonstrations to be a habit, but I habitually engaged in these activities.  As I mentioned, my participation fostered empowerment for change.  I felt much more capable of influencing social issues and partaking in a collective when I was continually engaged.  Once we have started a healthy habit, it’s crucial to follow through, don’t reduce and never stop your habit commitments.  Research explains that trying to re-start a habit we have lost is usually tougher than starting a new habit.  There is an energy in new possibilities that is challenging to replicate the second time around.  There are so many tempting triggers we can succumb to that change weaken our will.  Once we let ourselves slip into the decision making process, we lose the fundamental benefit of habits.  Making the decision to exercise or recycle requires energy, breeds guilt and reverts progress.

Keep in mind that there are going to be several habits in our lives that continue to be fragile and frustrating.  For many people, I can see participating in a collective to fall under this difficult habit category.  Volunteering time for environmental organizations for instance is a superior habit, but it may take continual reinforcement to satisfy.  I was talking with a friend about habit development and she brought up her impression that habit formation implies…indefinitely or Forever.   Forever can seem intimidating, but the habit timelines are up to the user.  While we struggle through adapting a habit into our routine, it is often helpful to tell yourself that the change is temporary.  Yet, after giving up chocolate for a year or composting wasted food for 12 weeks many people can in a way ‘trick themselves’ into developing a lifetime habit.

As I explained earlier, a major life change can be a great occasion for habit development.  A new job can breed a new sleep and exercise schedule.  Moving to a new place can extend one’s social circle or improve one’s household organization.  Even heart breaking changes can induce the same kind of opportunity for a clean slate.  There is something about big lifetime changes that make us feel anew, perhaps even empowered to change.  Let’s say that an employee wants to stop constantly working late.  It is easier to make this change when we start a new job, as opposed to going changing your established exit time in an existing job.  This brings up another point, the first few times we do something new we should monitor our choices closely.  Whether we are in the midst of a lifetime change or developing a new habit, we are molding our habits most of all in the beginning of the process.  Often there are triggers in our life that disrupt our typical schedule.  When one of my best friends moved home, I suddenly noticed that I ate less fresh fruits and vegetables.  We went to pick up our co-op food together and without her I lost my motivating trigger to sustain this habit.

This discussion about habits is indicative of my newfound discomfort with collective participation.  In moving to Kansas, a lot of things about my life changed.  But it was a bit shocking to reflect and realize how many important habits in my life were upheld through familiarity and triggers.  I wanted my habit foundation to be stronger than my location or one friend.  I want to become comfortable with collective participation again and I don’t want it to be contingent on where I live and who I know.  I want to do it for myself and for my environment.  Discomfort is disconcerting, but if I tell myself that the experience isn’t forever and can bring about previously experienced sources of pleasure (feeling empowered,) I feel more tolerant to the experience.

Following Through

This blog has revolved around the understanding that habits can be a powerful force of change in our lives.  In previous posts I explained four various motivation styles.  You will remember that these fall within categories Gretchen Rubin developed: Upholders (those motivated best by either external or internal pressures; Obligors (those who are motivated best by external pressures); Questioners (those motivated best by internal pressure) and Rebels (who struggle to be motivated by either external or internal pressures).  Our personal motivation tendencies are critical to understand how we can encourage ourselves to actually follow thru with our expectations.  To achieve self-transformation we should refer to previous posts that examine motivation styles.  Individual differences matter, such as a person’s values and temperament when we develop the habits we want to benefit from.

In a future post, I might discuss how a person determines what habits they would like to adopt.  I have chosen to skip over this research because most people eagerly recognize good habits they want to adopt.  So let’s talk about follow-thru.  How can we make our goals into habits?  We are going to talk about scheduling and accountability.

Scheduling is an important part of habit formation because it sets us up for success.  Setting aside time and space to actually preforming a habit is crucial.  Most of the time, it best to set a specific, regular time that a recurring activity is performed.  If we repeat an activity in a consistent and predictable way, we build our habits are built faster and class or work-we just go.  If we take the hesitancy out of our decision making process, we will complete the goal.  If we have to decide whether to work out or not, we are likely going to develop reasons why we can skip the gym.  So often we wait for the “right time” to do a task, like tomorrow, next week or New Year’s.  We often overestimate our energy our commitment tomorrow, thereby losing out on our best effort today. 

As I previously discussed, a habit is useful because it becomes an automatic response instead of a decision to ponder.  Yet, every goal we have cannot necessarily become a regular habit.  Gretchen Rubin, habit expert developed the idea of the unfixed habit and fixed habits.  An unfixed habit is not automatic, entails adjustment and decision making while a fixed habit is more automatic and requires less decision making power.  For instance, I have to decide where I am going to study on a daily basis, in my living room, in my bedroom, at a coffee shop, my department’s student office, the campus library, the public library, etc.  The danger of decision making is that we can spend irrelevant time deciding where to go or what to do and we get lost in the consideration process.  When we take the decision making process out of a goal, we don’t have to make painstaking and time wasting decisions.  Do you ever find yourself avoiding work by working?  For instance, when I don’t feel like grading, working on my thesis or doing school work, I will clean the house or exercise.  I am working on something productive, but I am avoiding what I should be doing and I am engaging in procrastination.  Scheduling, literally scheduling our entire day can increase productivity dramatically.  I have known several working mothers in my life who schedule anything and everything.  I have known people to schedule a wide array of activities, including and not limited to, leisure time, sex and even designated time to worry.   I’m not sure I advocate scheduled time to make love to your partner because I think life deserves some mystery, but there is some great wisdom to be gained from this kind of thinking.  Scheduling a time to worry allows us to experience emotional frustration for only a limited time period, instead of being plagued by worry all the time.  I have discussed scheduling issues previously when I suggested that you attach a new habit like taking items to the recycling center, to an existing, scheduled errand.  If you go to the grocery store once a week on Saturday mornings, allow yourself an extra 20 minutes and do both.  Some new habits have to be developed and reinforced every time it occurs, like turning off the faucet when brushing your teeth or in between rinsing dishes.

It takes around sixty-six days of consistent behavior to create a habit- contrary to the popular notion that is takes thirty days.  Keep in mind that some people develop habits with more ease than others.  People with an Upholder motivation tendency generally have an easier time developing positive habits that lead to self-transformation, while those with a Rebel motivation style will likely struggle more than others.  Our personal motivation styles determine what we feel accountable for and whether internal or external pressures best motivates us matters tremendously for goal attainment.  Even trying to embrace a habit itself can be more critical than even performing the activity.  We want to be disciplined, productive individuals when it is time to be productive and leisurely, relaxed individuals when we get a break.

Accountability matters a great deal when creating a habit.  For instance, so many times I felt unmotivated to send my daily permit application for the John Muir Trail (JMT), particularly after being rejected so many times.  But because my husband wants to hike the JMT as much as I do, I kept applying.  I love my husband and couldn’t let him down because I didn’t send the daily permit application. Similarly, I have done my best to collect as many recyclable materials that I can from my work.  I can’t not collect all the aluminum beer cans because I don’t feel like it.  Colleagues at work know that I recycle all the aluminum cans so I can’t be caught acting lazy.  Likewise, I promised myself that I would exercise as many times I could a week, but no less than 4 times.  If I don’t uphold this goal, I feel like I’ve failed- a feeling I try to avoid.  Your personal motivation tendency matters a lot in this process, but generally speaking, being accountable to anyone improves our behavior.  We often behave better when we are on camera.  We also do things we wouldn’t normally do when we are not monitored by others.  Research says that often we need a hired personal trainer to make it to the gym as opposed to a friend we promised to work out with.  Tell a friend or a family member that you are going to recycle your household items weekly.  Offer to hold them to a commitment if they do the same for you.

I advocate that habit formation can change our lives in a multitude of ways.  I was inspired to write about a blog about habit formation because I want us to realize that we can make all kinds of changes for ourselves and for the environment.  There are many simple choices that we can make that are not time intensive and reduce household waste.  Laura Nada is an anthropologist and author who discusses her experience working with various energy specialists.  Nadar describes her frustration that their brain storming sessions were restrictive and directive.  Many simple energy saving techniques are not utilized and not discussed, like solar energy for instance.  Nadar worked in a multi-disciplinary committee that developed growth models for soft energy solutions.  Nadar and fellow committee members drew up plans to save a lot of energy simply by cutting out waste and inefficiency.  Consumers would notice no changes to their unlimited and on demand energy services and products, without the unnecessary excess.  I want us to adopt this model in our own lives.  If we use a strategies of scheduling and depend on accountability when we need it, we can minimize our household waste.  We must realize that we have to choose to make the time.  We can easily fit trips to the recycling center into our lives.  Too often we don’t rise to the occasion until we are personally impacted.  The documentary Gas Land is a great example.  The film explains the lethal health consequences and the severe environmental degradation of natural gas refinery sites.  These problems seem so far away to us don’t they?  But they’re not- we all live in one system.  Our individualistic lifestyles have pushed us too far from what matters most- each other’s well-being.  In future posts, I am going to discuss how we can develop habits to become more communal and collectively minded people that work towards a better future for ourselves and our planet.

 

 

John Muir Trail Obsession

                           It has been a longstanding dream of mine to go long distance hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).  For years, I have had every intention of planning a summer hike.  Yet, summer classes, internships, financial stress, my wedding or familial obligations have kept me from this bucket list item.  Last fall, I was roaming through a used bookstore in the Travel Section and stumbled across a book about the John Muir Trail (JMT).  The JMT is a section of the PCT that runs along the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.  John Muir, an infamous environmentalist and founder of the Sierra Club fought to make this two-hundred and eleven mile stretch a conservation area.  (Being the planner I am) my mind began to wonder about how to plan and execute this particular long term hike.  I read the introduction of the book eagerly and found myself daydreaming by page three.  This summer is the perfect summer to plan my long distance hiking trip.  It is my last summer before re-entering the confinement and demands of a profession.  The JMT is considered by many experienced hikers to be the most beautiful trail in the United States.  I could hardly contain my excitement… I thought to myself that this is my trail and this is my year.  Spacey from my feelings of euphoria, I almost walked out of the store without paying for the book.

                     From the introduction I understood that the JMT’s beauty is almost equal in measure to its popularity.  Particularly since books and movies such as Wild have been released more people have grown interested in long distance hiking.  Despite its newfound popularity, long distance hiking is not glamorous.  Its filled with blisters, bruises, dirty bodied sleeping, cold bathing, dry, flavorless food, bear canisters, squatting against trees to pee, defecating in holes and packing out used toilet…Yes, I said packing out your feces laden paper.  Yet, there are snow capped mountains, green valleys, breath taking sights and spectacular sunrises.  But I was hoping for more than scenery- I wanted clarity.  I have been through a lot of personal trauma lately and the last few years have been really tough for me and my family.  Hell, sometimes I think I had a quarter-life crisis throughout much of 2015.  Through this trail, I was hoping to find some sort of grounding force.  I wanted an anchor, a beacon that could offer me some motivation to heal and move on.  I decided the JMT could be a motivator to discourage my unhealthy behaviors and motivate healthy habit development.

                     As I mentioned, the JMT is really popular and consequently quotas have been put in place that only allow twenty people to cross several particular trailheads a day.  The Yosemite National Park Service mandated that every JMT hiker has to apply for a permit to hike the JMT.  The permit has to be submitted by fax exactly 186 days in advance of the hike start date between particular hours of the day (PST).  The permits are awarded based on a lottery system.  If your permit application is rejected, you have no option but to change your start date and apply again, 186 days in advance.  This obviously requires a very flexible schedule, which I will not have for much longer.      Acquiring any information, particularly accurate information about the JMT permit process is surprisingly difficult to come by.  At first, I was under the assumption that the JMT permit had to be submitted between 10:00pm and 7:30am (CT).  I have waitressed throughout school so I thought it would be simple to run over to Fed Ex and use their fax machine after work every night.  After I submitted two permits, I finally found a valuable source of information and discovered that I had errors in my permit.  I had been wasting my time the last few attempts at a permit.  On days I had to make a special trip to use the fax machine, the nightly permit ritual got old really fast.  So my sweet husband surprised me with an inexpensive, no contract fax line to hook up my printer so I could fax the permit applications from home.  After my permit application was denied twenty times in a row, I sought out a JMT expert.  This expert told me that he knew a guy who applied for the JMT permit 14 days in a row and he finally was awarded the permit on the 15th try.  I tried to stay optimistic, but my permit application was denied daily for weeks on end.  The JMT expert told me that eventually I would get the permit. Superstitiously, each time I sent the permit I blew on my fax machine, knocked on wood or crossed my fingers.  I even tried to ‘believe’ or ‘will’ a reservation confirmation to pop up in my e-mail box.  I tried to be extra kind and empathetic, almost hoping that I could build up some sort of karma reserve to get a permit.   I tried not to take the daily rejection e-mails to heart because it is a lottery selection process after all.  Yet the words, “We are sorry to inform you were not selected for the JMT permit based upon lack of space…” burned a daily hole in my heart.                              As I am committed to embracing the benefits of habitual action, I kept up the ritual.  To be honest, I kept sending the permit mostly because I am stubborn and can get obsessive about things. But after applying for the permit 45 times without success, I became infuriated.  I probably only have another 3 or 4 chances to be awarded the permit until it will be too chilly for me to sleep comfortably outside. Consequently, instead of feeling rush of serenity or calmness when I think of thee JMT, now I envision a voodoo doll with long pins coming out of it.  I try my best to be a responsible environmentalist, but lately I find myself overwhelmed by the limited space on the trail.  I know that there are trail quotas to protect this precious landscape, but I find myself enraged by the space restrictions.  I complained too many times to count that this year was the best year for us to do a long term hike and perhaps my only chance to hike the JMT period.  When we  get professional jobs, we will not have the flexibility to change our start dates everyday until we get the permit.  I started to act like the Yosemite National Park Service had stolen my JMT dream.   If we leave faucets dripping, drive Hummers, and allow thousands of species to go extinct, why can’t YNPS make an exception and allow JUST 2 more people on the JMT!  As my obsession grew, I found myself thinking that two people’s impact on the JMT would probably be minimal- so who cares? Just so long we get the permit.

                    I was shocked the way I was internally responding to this situation.  My priorities were selfish and purely self- motivating.  If given the chance, I would have likely exchanged the integrity of the JMT trail for a permit to hike. This attitude of mastery over nature is largely reflected in western culture.  We see nature as something that can bend.  But in all reality, if I do get a permit I will have to be the party that will be changed.  I will have to bend, jump and swim when the trail tells me to.  The trail will dictate my options and choices.  I will keep applying for the JMT permit for another 5 days.  After that time it will be too cold for me to hike.  It is a bizarre feeling to be angry with the  Sierra Nevada Range, but I think John Muir can take it. 🙂

P.S. I finally received a permit for the John Muir Trail after applying 48 days in

This assignment calls for us to create a playlist that demonstrates our emotional reaction to climate change.  My husband, Daniel and my friend Janet and I are people who appreciate rising to a challenge.  So, we decided to test our long-term memory recall and only include songs on our playlist that we could identify ourselves.  We wanted our interests and experiences to be identified by the songs we remembered, the songs we chose.  We did not use the internet to inspire our song choices, but only to help us identify a song we recalled from our personal histories.  Mary Pipher describes our emotional reaction to climate change in her lecture, The Green Boat.  Pipher explains that we experience an array of negative emotions when we consider our participation in climate change like guilt, grief, frustration, hopelessness, etc.  Pipher explains that action can be our greatest defense.  As I re-watched Pipher’s lecture with my husband and best friend, I realized that I couldn’t hardly think of songs that actually describe environmental issues.  If I was given a nickel for every social justice song I could recall I would have a couple of dollars.  But songs with an environmental agenda?  Not many songs came to mind.  It was then that I realized… I have been avoiding my individual emotional reaction to climate change.  I prefer action in times of distress, so when I see my workplace throw away 2-5 bags of garbage a day, I am the type of person who starts a small recycling program to mediate my guilty hearted participation.  Perhaps, I feel guilty when I think about environmental problems because I haven’t processed my grief about such a global tragedy.  Guilt is kind of my go-to emotion that my husband and best friend don’t really understand.  Pipher’s documentary made them feel motivated to become more involved in environmental issues.

Daniel:                 “Why do you feel guilty about climate change, Schatzie?”                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Me:                       “Because I am very familiar with environmental issues but I don’t do enough to alleviate environmental issues.”

Janet:                   “I’m not sure I agree.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Janet:                   “I feel like you talk about environmental issues a lot.  It makes me feel like I don’t watch the news enough.”

Me:                       “You know some of the readings from Klein explain that generally speaking, most people are knowledgeable of environmental issues, particularly climate change”

Janet:                   “So, why don’t more people make changes to protect the environment?”                                                                                                                                                                                         Daniel:                 “Perhaps it’s because they feel like they don’t know how to help or maybe like you said, Schatzie, people feel guilty; but, it seems like a self-defeating emotion.”

Me:                       “It is a self-defeating emotion.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Daniel:                 “Then why do you let yourself continue to feel guilty about environmental issues?

Carrie:                  “Maybe I don’t let go of the guilt because I feel like it motivates me.”                                                                                                                                                                               Daniel:                 “So you recycle everything you can and limit our water, electricity and gas usage because you feel guilty?  I think you do those things because you are responsible, not because you feel guilty.”

Me:                       “You are probably right, but I’m positive I feel guilty about environmental issues.”                                                                                                                                                        Janet:                   “That seems like a lot of negative energy to carry around.  Why do you feel guilty?”                                                                                                                                                       Me:                       “You know, what?  I have no idea.”

Daniel, Janet and I spent a lot of time testing our memory recall, humming chorus tempos and identifying words and phrases from various verses.  I realized that while I am passionate about environmental issues, I don’t seek out environmentally themed songs.  In fact, as I avidly searched the depths of my mind for environmental justice songs, I started to get the sense that I avoid them.

I brought this topic up to Daniel and Janet.

Me:                   “I wonder why we are struggling to identify environmentally themed songs.”                                                                                                                                                                                          Janet:               “Well, songs about green living aren’t particularly popular.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Daniel:             “But a lot of the songs we came up with were written by popular artists.”

Janet:               “Perhaps the lyrics are too sad to provide people with what they often want from art, like cheeriness or you know, an energizing, positive vibe.”

Daniel:             “That reminds me of Carrie’s guilty feelings about environmental issues.  Do these songs make us feel guilty when we hear them?”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Me:                    “Not really; they kind of make me feel comforted.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Daniel; Janet:   “Why?”

Me:                   “I don’t know, maybe because they show me that other people care about climate change, or maybe it’s because it demonstrates various ways people can participate in green living; or maybe it’s because I feel like I’m not alone in my passion; or maybe it’s because the songs demonstrate that I can only do my part and my part is all I can do.”

Janet:         “Carrie?”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             I continued to sit in silence ruminating this notion.  Something about my last statement made me feel oddly at peace.

Me:                   “I think I feel guilty about climate change and other environmental issues because I feel like what I do or can do is not enough, like it won’t matter in the end.”

Daniel:              “That is possible.  But, I don’t want you to feel guilty over something that you are trying your best to change.”

Me:                   “But no matter how hard I try, my best isn’t good enough.  I still have to drive a car to campus and I can’t afford to eat only locally grown food and so on-”

Janet:                “But you can’t change any of those things right now… so why do you feel guilty over it?”

Me:                     “Damn, when you put it like that… you know what?  I don’t fucking know.”                                                                                                                                                                                   Me:                     “Maybe it’s because climate change is so hard to stop and so inevitable that guilt becomes a coping mechanism.”

Janet:                  “How so?”

Daniel:                 “Because it’s easier to avoid issues we feel guilty about.  Maybe feeling guilty helps you avoid environmental issues; maybe guilt is a coping technique.”

Our Playlist:

 

“A Spade” by Ani DiFranco

The title of this song speaks for its content.  DiFranco describes how we refuse to call a social justice issue what it is whether it be racism, sexism or economic inequality.  For instance, we ship our trash to poor countries like India.  We call it a mutually beneficial economic trade agreement, but it’s actually environmental and economic injustice.  We need to call our spades by what they are, spades.  In this song, DiFranco also explains that she is tired of feeling like only one voice.  She also says we should stop searching for the answer when our answer can be found in our intentions.  We appreciated this perspective because it speaks to society’s floundering of ‘what to do about climate change.’  The answer lies in gaining experiences about what works and what doesn’t.  We felt this song demonstrates that we spend so much energy and money dancing around social issues like climate change.

“Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell

There aren’t many songs about the environment that have made it to the top 40.  Mitchell’s song is simple, catchy and fun to sing.  It is likely one of the most recognized songs about the environment of our generation.  This song demonstrates how so many times we replace natural beauty with modern consumerism.  The lyrics, “that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone” speaks to our disposable lifestyles.  We see trees as disposable, but parking lots a necessity.  As a human race, we seem to not appreciate what we have until we are personally impacted.

“Get up Stand Up” by Bob Marley

This song is an old favorite that can describe many forms of resistance against social injustice issue.  As we have discussed in my Environmental Anthropology class, we don’t have to have everyone agree with our social and political beliefs to agree that we should do something about climate change and environmental injustice.  We liked this song because it’s beat and lyrics are motivating and unifying.  Songs like this and ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ provide themes that transcend personal differences.  This song has represented hundreds of social movements.  I appreciate songs that help to bridge gaps between individuals.

“Harvest for the World” by Isley Brothers:

This song was something that I heard once many years ago and only remembered a little of the lyrics.  I had no memory of the tune or melody.  This song calls for a ‘harvest for the world.’  Although this song is not directly inspired by climate change, it is promotes the same principles.  I find this particular lyric meaningful:

“All babies together, everyone a seed

Half of us are satisfied, half of us in need

Love is bountiful in us, tarnished by our greed

When will there be a harvest for the world”

According to many authors, particularly Klein, climate change causes unique social and economic burdens in particular geographic areas.  This environmental inequality often reproduces greater or acute social and economic disparity.  I appreciate that this song calls for everyone to have an equal opportunity to live on a healthy planet.  Each individual only receives a seed, but we all get one.  This song also speaks of greed and how western principles are turning nation after nation into a fellow beast.  This song again attempts to bring together the human race as a global community.

“Higher Ground” by Stevie Wonder

My friend Janet noticed my interest in songs that unify people towards action and she selected this song.  The song, “Higher Ground” I think explains the how we all have to work together to keep working towards change.  Too many of us are completely giving up on the possibility of creating positive environmental change.  My husband explained that this song also inspires that each of us have skills that we should use to stimulate social change.  Oddly enough, this song kind of speaks to the notion of guilt I was examining when he says, “cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin I’m so glad that I know more than I knew then.”  Daniel kind of saw it as an optimistic, futuristic perspective of climate change.  This song describes that getting to higher ground is worth the work and something we must all participate.

“(Nothing but) Flowers” by Talking Heads

My husband thought of this song and it took a long time to track it down on the internet.  He described a futuristic song about how mother earth overcame human advancement.  This song is such a unique perspective of the apocalypse.  Mother earth overcoming the human race is an outlook that I think is useful to ponder.  We too often assume the earth can be conquered because we have figured out how to hyper-extract resources, shift the current of rivers and walked on the moon.  However, climate change is a force that can have grave and unpredictable consequences.  I appreciate the concept of gratefulness for modern conveniences and luxuries that our prodigy would be denied.

“Rape of the World” by Tracy Chapman

The lyrics of this song are very provocative.  We choose this song because we felt like the lyrics mimicked the frustrations we explained when we discussed issues relating to the Anthropocene.  This song conveys our sorrow for the atrocities we have committed to our planet.  One of the things I expressed to my friends during this exercise was that I have a lot of trouble understanding why the human race doesn’t take climate change more seriously.  There are so many apocalyptic movies that at minimum demonstrate to the population that earth is a precious planet.  Even if it was possible to live on Mars would we really want that for our descendants?  Unfortunately, our western world view is to pillage for gain.  But as Chapman is conveying, is our greed worth it?  If we care, won’t we testify?  Won’t we act?

“Song for a Dying Planet” by Josh Walsh

This song is incredibly simple, has few lyrics, but offers a powerful message.  This song speaks to my struggle with motivating people to change their environmental choices.  Walsh candidly asks if anyone cares about the planet.  This song speaks to guilt about climate change.  As our conversation that I recorded explained, perhaps I feel guilty because I can’t do more than one individual can accomplish for climate change.  Intensive, individual changes will not impact climate change.  Individual effort in comparison to holes in the ozone seems so trivial.  But, Walsh is raising awareness about how weak and unfocused our resistance to climate change compared to the problem.  We have to call out to each other and actually connect, in person, and band together to create change.  My friends and I discussed that sometimes these days collective action seems almost as impossible to achieve as lowering global carbon emissions.

“We Shall Overcome” by Pete Seeger

This song is another example of art that unifies all kinds of people.  I appreciate songs that are able to transcend political identities.  Most of this song is a call for world peace and a united global community.  Climate change is a disruption to the peace, to our most fundamental freedom, which we so under appreciate: a habitable living space.  So many songs like this one are considered to be only about racism, sexism or social movements in general.  But Seeger was an infamous social justice advocate and his words penetrate any injustice.  Songs like this help me to overcome my resounding guilt concerning climate change.  Seeger’s lyrics and serene melody help me to understand that we all have an individual responsibility.  Considered abstractly, I can only do as much as anyone else, no less, no more.

“Worldwide Suicide” by Pearl Jam

We struggled with whether to add this song to the playlist.  While this song clearly does not specifically discuss the environment, we felt that the drama and lyrical nature of this song closely relates to the calamity of climate change.  The damages of climate change are so severe and the solutions so far away that at times it seems our world is committing suicide.  This perspective could seem extreme, but it does help me to understand where my guilt comes from.  It’s just a hopeless situation, yet I still feel optimistic we can create change.  Yet, I’m not sure that the amount of change we need to make is actually feasible.  Due to the reality of this monumental, catastrophic world-wide defeat, I start to realize that perhaps what I really feel is sorrow, not guilt.  Perhaps my guilt stems from my inability to help the world actually change.  I am just one person; I have potential to change the world in many ways; but, I am still just one person.  We feel sorrow for our grandchildren as we will have created a world that already contains their limited future and their destiny.

Conclusions:

We did this exercise during our typical Wednesday class time.  Each of us had recently gotten off of work that day and were happy to exchange personal inquiries and laughs, benefited by chilled red wine, smooth dark beer and homemade dip and bread.  We were all very tired about one thing or the other, but tried to embrace the assignment.  If am very close with this friend and my husband, so I felt comfortable talking with them about my guilt concerning climate change.  My husband expressed feelings of frustration about climate change, particularly when I explained Klein’s argument that disagreement over trade agreements paralyzed effective green energy adoption in Canada.  Janet felt mostly sad about how serious climate change will be for our future.  She explained that she doesn’t think about environmental problems as much as she should.  Between Janet’s comment and our struggle to come up with songs about climate change I started to realize that in many ways I avoid talking or thinking about climate change.  Music is important to all of us, yet none of us had songs concerning environmental issues on our phone or iPod.  We decided that perhaps we would feel some reassurance by hearing songs about climate change or environmental issues on a more regular basis.  By hearing this playlist, we felt a sense of empowerment that we would like to incorporate into our daily lives.  Thematically, our playlist includes many songs that express grief and anger over environmental issues.  We felt compelled to demonstrate our frustration through our playlist that people seem so laissez faire about climate change.  Yet, we felt just as compelled to add songs that promote unity despite social, economic and racial differences.  My friends really appreciated Pipher’s philosophy discussion that we do not have to convince people to become an environmentalist, but we should find common ground that unites us against climate change.  This exercise also helped me to come to terms with my guilt surrounding climate change.  I realized climate change seems to incite grief in me because my contribution feels so small and worthless compared to the immeasurable about of work we have to do.   This playlist offers a balance between frustration and sorrow over how grave the outcome of climate change will likely be in the future and an optimistic call for collective action.

 

We are all distinct individuals with various personalities and experiences.  But, as I have mentioned before, we are more alike than we are different, but those differences are very important to understand.  The questions that I listed in the last post are designed to help us understand our personal preferences.  It is essential to understand our preferences so that we can make informed choices about what habits we would like to develop.  We must base our self-transformation on forming habits that utilize on our strengths.  Developing helpful habits is not about changing who we are, it is about accepting and using our strengths to our advantage.  Go over the questions again in the previous post if you need to, but usually our gut reactions are often correct.  The next discussion pertains to our personal motivation style.  When I read this particular information it immediately struck me as disconcerting.  Mostly, because I found that I wasn’t pleased with my personal motivation inclination or predisposition.

Gretchen Rubin studies what motivates people.  She argues that there are four different tendencies of motivation that generally describe most people.  Realistically, there is variation in all of us that cannot be boxed into categories.  But, generally speaking we find ourselves in one camp; so here it is: Upholders, Rebels, Obligers and Questioners.  Upholders are motivated by both external obligations and personal expectations.  Upholding is the motivation style that everyone likely assumes they have because it seems the most desirable.  Similarly, a rebellious personality style is rarer than the other two types, Questioners and Obligers.  Gretchen Rubin, also a famous habit formation pioneer explains that those people who fall into the rebel category are not motivated by external parties such as a boss or parents.  Yet, they also struggle to be motivated by personal expectations.  They tend to fulfill promises to others before they maintain commitments to themselves.  Most people are motivated best by one or the other: external or internal influences.  Obligers are more willing to fulfil goals if they experience pressure from external actors like exercising with a friend or finishing a degree to set a good example for children.  Questioners resist direction from others until they consider it a worthy feat.  Questioners are motivated by personal goals and skeptical of external pressures unless they find them worthy.

As I mentioned, I found this information frustrating because I don’t find my personal motivation tendency particularly pleasing.  While I used to consider myself firmly within the Upholder category, I think I have become an Obliger.  This is not to say our motivation predisposition can’t change.  But we have to be honest with ourselves so that we can exploit our strengths to more easily achieve self-transformation.  This information is important because it allows us to develop habits that are tailored to our motivation style.  My husband, for instance is a Questioner and I find that most of his commitments are carefully weighed and considered.  His rationale, his logic motivates him best because he finds the activity useful.  Carefully and honestly consider your motivation tendency.  It’s critical to successful habit formation.

Some habit formation advice:  Habits are easier to form when we attach a new habit to an old habit.  Brushing one’s teeth is a consistent and scheduled habit that another habit may be attached, like tidying up your living space.  For instance, every morning after I make the bed, I sort all the recycling from the previous day.  Sorting your recycling for just a few minutes every day keeps the recycling from becoming a burden.  Habit tip #1 is that any task which can be performed in under a few minutes should be completed daily.  Clean out your refrigerator and do your laundry as it comes.  Chores are easier to accomplish when they are smaller.  When our tasks are too big we avoid them.  I hear a lot of people who are only willing to recycle if they do not have to put forth effort.  When I moved to Manhattan I found myself recycling less items than before, mostly because I have to transport the recycling.  I decided to start organizing my recycling daily and take it to the recycling center weekly, instead of monthly.  This new habit helps me to recycle more items because I get less frustrated by a few bags, as opposed to a dozen.  I attached my new recycling habit to my regular errand day on Saturdays.

So why is any of this important?  Because self-monitoring and habit formation allows us to expand our sphere of influence over our lives and achieve some transformation.  We can use these strategies to make changes anywhere from how many hours of sleep we get to becoming more socially dutiful.  Persuading people of how easily more mindful environmental choices can be made is ultimately the highest achievement I can expect from this blog.  Simply considering how little time it takes to turn off the water faucet between rinsing dishes justifies the water savings.  We can control our thoughts and we can control behavior.  So, I am going to encourage us to embrace the challenge for the sake of change.  Every generation complains that the proceeding generation is problematic or dissimilar in some way.  But we should all recognize that we are becoming an incredibly individualistic culture that rarely rallies for a cause farther than a signing a Facebook petition.  We are too alone to ban together.  And as much as I want this blog to encourage individuals to ‘get to know themselves as individuals,’ I want just as badly to persuade us of the limitations of individuality.  Klein’s pioneering work, “Blockadia” explains that fight against environmental degradation is “building a global, grassroots, and broad-based network the likes of which the environmental movement has rarely seen” (Klein). We must have control over what happens to our most critically important resources, such as water, soil and air.  I am discussing habits because I want us to understand that our environmental impact is easier to control when we consider it in the form of easy to manipulate habits.  We can change, but we need to embrace HOW we can CHANGE.  I work in a restaurant that doesn’t recycle more than cardboard mostly because we don’t have the space to store recycling bins.  I can’t change the institution of our throw away culture or the way disposable products have overwhelmed our existence, but I can try to change what we do and do not put in the trash can.  Consequently, for the last two weeks I have been collecting the restaurant’s aluminum beer cans and taking them to the recycling center when I go to the center for my household.  This is a small contribution, but I am going to expand my efforts.  The point is that developing new productive habits can be easier than we imagine.  I am already at work and have opportunities to collect the aluminum cans that I take to the recycling center with my personal recycling.  And you know what?  It makes me feel good to do it.  And luckily, it also makes me feel motivated to do more.

Last week I set a few goals for myself.  These included drinking more water, which proved to be a much easier feat than I imagined.  I simply had to take my water bottle with me to more places.  Constantly sipping on water proved to hydrate me with an additional eight to sixteen ounces of water a day.  As long as I continue to pack my water bottle in my purse, I think it will be relatively easy to maintain this habit.  However, reducing my weekly trash output proved to be much more difficult.  I already recycle regularly and try to buy fresh food.  Finding food with minimal packaging was harder than I thought because in some ways it completely changed my grocery shopping habits.  The only meat I could buy without packaging had to be fresh- which made it more expensive.  I got the grocery store to collect my fresh food and realized that you have to put fresh food in small plastic bags… crap… back home to get a clean re-usable bag to carry the fruits and vegetables.  But crackers for my tortilla soup come in a cardboard box and the yogurt I like doesn’t come in large containers, only individual serving sizes.  As the days passed, I was getting dangerously close to not accomplishing my weekly trash goal.  From my trash monitoring, I realized that I didn’t in fact know what I could and couldn’t recycle in Manhattan.  Consequently, I have only recycled items that I was positive the recycling center would accept.  I have thrown away plastics that were not 1 and 2 or weren’t clearly labeled because I was ignorant of the local recycling options.  It dawned on me that I haven’t been recycling unwanted mail and magazines for almost 3 years now.  I either threw them away or in a junk cabinet.   This week I collected a bag of items that I was unsure about, the huge stack of magazines, plus my usual recycling and visited the recycling center.  While I was there I used the opportunity to go through each item I was unsure about and determine whether I could recycle it locally.  I was able to recycle every item in the bag.  And so I cut my weekly trash output by one bag… but it was a slim win.  It caused me some stress because I am still not aware of all of my food choices that have limited packaging.  This will take some time.  But it is knowledge that is easy to acquire.  It just takes a bit more effort- like the recycling center trip.  I hope you were able to successfully monitor something in your life and understand where changes can be made.

I’m going to draw from Foucault’s work to elaborate more on the notion of “the self.”  Foucault explains that there are four ways an individual establishes themselves as a moral subject responsible for his or her actions.  The first way concerns the motivation a person has to be a beacon of moral conduct.  Discovering why you want to transform may seem flippant, but you might be surprised by your answer.  For some people, it may be to be happier, for others it might be to improve productivity or interpersonal relationships.  Foucault’s second principle of the self relates to what prompts an individual to recognize their moral obligations.  Are you motivated by external or internal pressures?  The next principle is the way in which a person transforms their personal nature and character.  I obviously find habit formation helpful for self-transformation, but there are other methods of change to utilize.  Finally, discovering what sort of ‘self’ an individual seeks to be is the critical to becoming a responsible, moral being.  What can we take from this?  That we can discover what makes up our “selves” and what motivates us to rise to our moral nature and obligations.

Foucault describes knowing the soul as the principle activity of caring for one’s self.  Identifying one’s soul is much too grand a subject for this space, but I appreciate the concept.  Knowing one’s soul is principle to caring for your ‘self’… what an inspiring notion!  I will not discuss ideations of the soul.  But, when we talk about self-transformation, I want to us to consider our work on our ‘selves’ to be work on our ‘souls.’  Media, religion and stories present the soul as something dark or light. So if you don’t have a dark soul, you have a light, shiny, flawless soul that encompasses who you are at your essence.  People have a better impression of their souls than their ‘selves,’ right?  We overload our ‘selves’ with all kinds of self-doubt, grief, guilt, apathy and frustration.  Our ‘selves’ are often battered and broken from years of self-abuse.  Give up the grief, damn it!  We are more willing to change or cultivate something we feel optimistic about.  So, at least in this space, let’s consider our ‘soul’ to be our ‘self.’  At least until we stop judging ourselves.  We must start in a place of hope- this is completely essential.  You need to give up the self-doubts, the internal putdowns and the expectation that you should be or enjoy anything different than you actually, honestly enjoy.  We spend much more time trying to be someone different than we actually spend accepting who we are.  So if you suffer from self-abuse, as many of us do, just pretend we are refurbishing your soul.

Foucault describes knowing the soul is an endeavor that requires a review of the divine.  Our interpretation of the divine varies drastically; yet, we can all agree that consideration of the divine begets growth and change.  Foucault argues that political and behavioral feats derive from our ability to contemplate our ‘self.’  In other words, we must be familiar with our ‘selves’ if we are going to make developmental and moral changes.  In fact, Foucault argues that being familiar with one’s self is critically linked to political activities.  In essence, we must know our ‘selves’ to productively assert ourselves as moral and political beings.

Okay so let’s get familiar… with our… ‘Selves.’

While individuals are much more alike than they are dissimilar, these distinctions are very critical.  So let’s talk about who we are in relation to others.  Mind you, we tend to want to hope or pretend that we are something more or less than we are.  This exercise is to accept who you are because who you are is good and the essence of yourself it is all you will ever be- so, just except the good and glorious changes we all need.  So please, when you ponder your distinctions do not exaggerate, inflate, devalue, misconstrue or underestimate your answers.  The truth is important- and really will set you free.

These questions pertain to what motivates you as an individual.  The intention of this exercise is to help you know yourself better, so you can make more successful changes by choosing informed habits to adopt.  Which option do you prefer?

Am I a marathoner, a sprinter, or a procrastinator?

Do I prefer a slow steady work schedule; a slow start and then a quick, intensive           finish, or do I put the assignment off until the last minute?

Do I love simplicity or abundance? 

Do I like a simple, clean environment or a space adorned with items of charm?  Do I like a lot of projects, or just one large one?  Do I enjoy several activities, or a few hobbies whole-heartedly?  Do I have a closet full of clothes or work out equipment, or just a few dozen outfits and some handheld weights?

Am I a finisher or an opener?

Do I most enjoy opening a project or finishing a project?

Do I enjoy familiarity or novelty?

Do I prefer a steady, consistent schedule, or an inconsistent, unique lifestyle, or something in between?  For instance, if I was interested in habitually exercising, do I prefer to try a new exercise program or resume an old jogging routine again?

Am I promotion-focused or prevention focused?

Do I prefer to mitigate a conflict or solve it?  Usually people who are promotion focused appreciate praise, focus on achievement and strive to gain more.  Prevention focused people concentrate on fulfilling obligations, avoiding loss and minimizing potential crises.

Do I prefer small steps or big steps?

Do you like to move quickly, or assuredly?

Experts often argue that we should not have multiple habit projects happening simultaneously because it can overtax our willpower.  For myself, change seems to beget change.  I am of the opinion that my unwanted habits seem to strengthen each other, and the opposite is just as true.  I like to work on multiple habits because it seems to create a motivating environment of growth.  Recent literature seems to be going in a similar direction; developing good habits help to promote work productivity.  Before we get into habit formation, I want us to start making some critical changes in our lives that will help to boost the successfulness of good habit development:

• Get enough sleep
• Eat balanced meals
• Exercise
• Create an organized living and work environment

The first three are relatively obvious, but ‘uncluttering’ our lives has also been shown to be highly effective for improving our moods.  Having an organized, clean household produces internal calmness.  Let’s start spring cleaning in February!  We all live very busy lives, so ‘uncluttering’ can certainly take some time.  To accomplish this task, I created a list of all the spaces in my apartment that need to be sorted through and organized.  Slowly, but surely I have organized these various spaces one at a time, when I have time.  As I have mentioned before, I love to multi-task and use my time efficiently.  So when I watch TV in the evenings before bed, I simultaneously go through a junk drawer, my kitchen cabinets, filing cabinets and pantry while I watch TV.  It can be oddly enjoyable to purge.  But please, don’t just head to the trash can!  Recycle, repurpose, sell or give away unwanted items.  We are trying to improve our ‘selves,’ but for the purpose of becoming healthier, happier people who seek socially and environmentally responsible self-transformation.  You know people often tell me that they don’t have enough time to sleep more or exercise.  I can certainly empathize, but just remember that sleep and exercise improve our energy levels and productivity.  Focus on getting 30 more minutes of sleep per night and exercising for just 20 minutes a few times a week.

We will discuss motivation and habit formation more next week.  Continue to monitor your behavior and choices; it is an imperative lifetime strategy for a healthy, happy, responsible life.

 

Foucault, Michel. “Technologies of the Self.”, edited by Luther H. Martin, Huck Gutman and Patrick H. Hutton, pp. 16-49. Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 1988.

Rubin, Gretchen. Better than Before. Broadway Books: New York, 2015.

Mindful Changes

I recently watched a lecture by Mary Pipher, called the Green Boat.  In this lecture, she described how her personal coping style in the face of tragedy is to act, to choose action.  I tend to be a relatively pragmatic person that engages in similar coping strategies.  Often I find myself thinking, “If I try harder, things will improve.”  While hard work is critical for self-transformation, strategic hard work is more effective.  So how can we choose to act, and yet, act with purpose?

The first element of self-transformation is mindfulness.  We must learn to be mindful of the choices we make and the way we behave.  Our schedules are packed and our days are rushed, which encourages easy solutions and careless decisions.  We throw away recyclable materials, eat fast food or candy bars and overspend on luxury items.  Being mindful of the things we throw away, eat, buy, care about, ask for, disregard, avoid, or treasure must all be considered.  There are two fundamental reasons for monitoring our mindfulness: to learn more about ourselves as individuals and to monitor our choices.

I am a big supporter of attempting to use my time very efficiently, so I like to review my choices and actions when I am washing the dishes, grocery shopping or driving.  I like to use this time to think about the choices I have made that week and how I can improve.  For instance, how many ounces of water did I drink today?  How can I fit more outdoor time into my schedule this week?  What new recipes can I try that reduce water intensive products like beef and corn in my diet?  Did I exercise as many times this week as I intended?  What are some of my favorite activities?  How can I eliminate one bag of trash from my weekly quota?  Have I been adding money to my savings account?  Did I exclusively use the eco settings on my washer and dryer?  Have I kept up with family and friends?  Being mindful is a sure way to expand our self-awareness and it is the first step towards self-transformation.  It is not easy to remember to be mindful, so it must be routinely practiced.  Practice makes perfect.  When you find yourself not thinking about anything, decide to think about who you are, your choices and your goals.  Make a habit of mindfulness.  Don’t be overly critical or judgmental of yourself; just be self-observant.

Mindfulness is crucial for self-examination, which is critical for self-transformation.  So I challenge you to be mindful this week.  Consider things about yourself and your environment that you are satisfied with, want to improve, change or eliminate.  Lack of mindfulness is a fundamental pitfall of humanity.  The human race has created the Anthropocene through our methods of deforestation, hyper-use of fossil fuels, toxic emissions, biodiversity loss and mismanaged freshwater resources.  Structural institutions have permitted politicians, lawyers and financial power players to prevent environmental progressive technologies from reaching the market.  Klein described Ontario’s extensive plan to eliminate coal in favor of green energy technology.  Yet, without much public outrage, Ontario’s impressive energy plan was determined illegal by World Trade Organization (WTO) trade laws.  Losing such an innovative energy program is crushing… particularly because there was very little global awareness or scrutiny of this loss.  We must be aware and we must be mindful.

Being mindful requires more than simply observation; we want to strive to enlighten our perspectives.  Western ideology promotes the belief of mastery over nature.  The human race has become the imperious and relentless master that forcibly exploits from his slave.  The earth is not a slave or a machine; it is our home.  We consider “our home” to be where our house is located.  The earth supersedes houses as deserving the name “our home.”  The earth is a gem in the midst of millions of planets that cannot sustain life.  Our planet needs us to be mindful.  Mindful of ourselves and mindful of our home.

We manage what we monitor.  So choose something in your life you want to monitor.  For instance, this week I will be monitoring the amount of trash I produce.  When I go grocery shopping this week I am going to focus on getting food products that have minimal packaging.  This excludes can foods, packaged meats, cereal boxes, bottled beverages etc.  By monitoring what food products I purchase (which is a large portion of my household trash) I will have a much easier time reducing my weekly trash by 1 bag.  I also want to increase my daily water consumption, but always seem to forget to drink more water.  A friend from college complained that she ate and drank too much sugar, but did not feel like she could tolerate a “diet.”  I suggested to her that she log every item she ate that contained any sugar on her phone.  This is not a strenuous exercise.  She wasn’t going to count calories or transform her diet.  She simply needed to read the ingredients list on food products and jot down the name of the food she ate that contained any sugar for a week.  By the middle of the week she was already eating less sugar.  She managed her sugar intake because she was monitoring a problem she wanted to change.  After a few weeks of using this strategy, she was subconsciously monitoring her choices and no longer required documenting her sugar intake.  She was habitually monitoring her food choices and felt like she managed her issue.  Boom! Self-transformation.  Many people could use sleep monitoring.  Be aware of your nighttime choices and how it will affect both the quantity and quality of your sleep schedule.  Keep a simple sleep log that monitors how many hours you slept and how energized you felt the next morning on a scale of 1 to 5.  Keep this log for a month and soon the benefits of a healthy sleep schedule will be revealed.  Discovering the benefits of self-transformation is often the biggest motivator to keep changing for the better.

Let’s be honest.  Self-transformation isn’t easy.  We are changing things about ourselves that likely require self-control and perseverance.  But there are tips of the trade that can make self-transformation more manageable and successful.  In my next post, we will begin examining strategies of motivation and habit formation.  Don’t forget to monitor and be mindful!