Building a Culture of Sustainability

The job before us is for the most part depressing and overwhelming. It seems that there is no end to the struggle to save the earth. The issues are many, from saving wildlife, addressing consumerism, recycling, energy consumption, water usage, air pollution, and the human condition that causes so much of the pollution. It is sometimes difficult to focus on just one issue without looking at all the rest and saying to ourselves, "This is an impossible task!"

Often environmentalists see the problem of "us" against "them". We are the good guys and they are the bad guys. We see it as a war. But in fact, all people would like to live in a pristine world. We all love days right after the rain, with blue skies and white billowing clouds. We love the smell of fresh air. We love to walk down streets that are clean, to smell flowers, and the fragrance of fresh ripe fruit. There is no one on earth that prefers to; live in stinking cities, drink chemically treated water, and swim in polluted streams and oceans. So why is it so hard to get everyone on the same page.

Culture...... is our biggest enemy and can be our strongest tool. Culture is, that which is deemed by a group of people as the basic values and rules that all should abide by. We have national cultures, regional cultures, even neighborhood cultures. We have school cultures and work cultures and sports and recreation cultures that we all live in.

I read an article once about a seniors retirement building that had over 100 apartments and about 250 residents. The owner of the building paid the lights, water, trash pick-up, and gas. When he installed solar on the top of the building to reduce his elctric energy costs, a very interesting thing happened. Well of course his electric bill went down, but there were some unexpected side effects. The gas bills went down, the trash dumpsters were less full, and the water usage also went down.

He had established a culture in his building. Living in a solar powered building the residents felt obliged to live in a more eco-friendly manner. Without any other changes, simply putting the solar on the building created a change in the way the residents lived and thought about themselves. We can do the same thing within our families, at our places of business,and in our neighborhoods. It is not a matter of lecturing, or browbeating people into submission. But simply leading by example and offering alternatives.

A friend of mine bought a trash can for a dollar and put a sign on it that said recycle. She put it next to the trash can in her companies breakroom. Immediately people began to throw their cans and bottles into the recycle can instead of the regular trash. She would recycle all the cans and bottles at the end of the month and use the money to by treats (cookies or cakes) for the office workers.

Another friend, owns a small business and once a week, pays her 2 employees 1 hour extra for picking up trash in the area surrounding her business and down the street. She says her employees are much more careful about not dropping trash themselves, and that businesses in the area have started to help without being asked. .

Even kids have been able to create eco-cultures at their schools and in their neighborhoods. It all comes down to a few simple ideas; lead by example (solar on the building), make change easy (the recycle trash can), show the benefits (cookies), and invest something of yourself to help others start (paying employees). This is how culture is born. We all have people we know , who can join us in changing the world. They don't need a lecture ......just a cultural makeover.

People have wondered for years ....what happened to the great cultures of the Angkor Wat in Cambodia? Of the Maya in Guatamala? Scientists have found that it was the expansion of their cities and the destruction of their environment that lead to their demise. The cutting down of forests, the vast unsustainable water systems, the large and unsustainable urban populations that ended these civilazations. We need to heed the warning and recreate our cultures both local and national or our vast cities too will lie silent as the jungles, forests and deserts reclaim unsustainable cities throughout the world.