why daily habits are important after all
To me, as a poor and psychologically wounded person, changing daily habits to be more environmentally friendly is sort of like being polite to mother earth.
I know turning off the tap when I don’t need the water won’t stop droughts in other parts of the world (or even here) and I am depressed about what happens with recycled trash afterwards whenever I think about it and I know there is “no ethical consumption under capitalism” (which by the way NEVER meant “so don’t even try to change anything”).
But all these things are important anyway!
I see this kind of as a parallel to microagressions and basic decency. Just like being polite to people who are systematically oppressed isn’t going to give them housing and health care and food sovereignty or free them from environmental racism or exploitation or any of that - it’s still important.
I couldn’t call myself an activist or social justice proponent or try to ally if I didn’t even bother to show minimal respect and politeness on the level of saying “please” and “thank you” and smiling and listening and giving everyone their personal space and apologising when I mess up or step on anyone’s toes (literally or figuratively).
Of course to be an actual activist, it can’t just stop there. But it has to start there imho.
So how could I call myself an environmental activist while wasting water and other resources, littering or buying unnecessary plastic or electronic throwaway-items, flying by plane or driving by car needlessly or being anything else than as-vegan-as-possible-for-me?
I wouldn’t trample a flower or rip off tree branches without good reason either!
Changing what daily habits and consumer choices I can change in my current circumstances - without guilting myself over the things I cannot do - is how I express and cultivate my respect for our earth.
If I were to be “rude” to mother earth on a daily basis and excused it with “consumerism doesn’t change anything”, I’d cultivate disrespect for our planet in myself. I’d get used to mistreating ki on a daily basis and justifying the mistreatment.
That’s just not a good basis for doing effective activism in any capacity!
I’m not saying this must necessarily be the same for everyone. But for me - and I’m guessing for a lot of other people too (you’ll probably know where you land wrt this) - it’s important to cultivate respect for everyone I value, including our planet.
Again, I know it’s not possible to always do everything. Heck, I’m not even able to hold eye contact or speak (and thus say “good morning”) 100% of the time! But I no longer beat myself up over this or call myself impolite or rude, because I know this is not done out of devaluing the other person, it’s a result of my psychological or physical struggles and limitations. Everyone has their struggles and limitations and everyone deals with them in a different way.
Everyone has different priorities and that’s as it should be! So if you’re “rude” on a day-to-day basis but effect real change through other avenues, then more power to you! If you use plastic plates because doing the dishes is too much for you, you rock!
But please don’t denigrate others or sap them of hope by telling us our actions are meaningless, when what we do is vital for us to feel and express and nurture respect for other people and the earth. And from that fertile ground of respect can spring beautiful flowers! (= Other types of actions, marches, protests, community organising, direct action, mass boykotts, art, what have you!)
It kind of reminds me of discussions around whether spending energy educating others on the correct usage of non-oppressive language is worth the effort or a waste of time and energy that could better be spent doing more meaningful activism. And I can understand both sides! For some people, being confronted with thoughtless (not even intentionally mean!) words and phrases that hurt them is bad enough to have to leave spaces that might otherwise have empowered them. So it’s not a waste of time to change our language to be welcoming to everyone!
On the other hand, some people simply don’t have the energy and time to have the same discussion about terminology for the hundredth time so they tune that out and focus on lobbying for societal and political change or building up community resources.
And we need it all. Not everyone needs to do all the work simultaneously, but we all can contribute something and we need some people who do this and some people who do that and some people who do a bit of everything and some people who concentrate on getting through the day!
