Is Environmentalism Outside of Our Control?

November 13th, 2009

Wayne Dyer, in his audio book, “You’ll See It When You Believe It,” points out to us that worrying is worthless.

There are two things you can worry about: the things you can control, and the things you cannot control.

Worrying about the things you *cannot* control is absurd.  Your worries will do nothing to change the situation, and it is a waste of energy.

Worrying about the things you *can* control is also a waste of energy.  Why worry about it, when you can change it?

While I was listening his words, I began to think about all of the things about which I regularly worry.
You know, like what we’re doing to the environment.  I picked this as my topic because it’s an issue very dear to my heart, and it’s something that dances with me all day long on a daily basis.

That and it was an issue I encountered just a few days ago, while getting ready to go to a meeting accompanied by my co-worker.

I watched her take out two smaller Styrofoam cups, filling one with hot chocolate and the other with hot water.  She then proceeded to fill a third, larger cup with the two liquids, mixing them together.  Thinking I was being helpful, I said, “You know, you could waste less if you just moved the tray here, and you could fill up only the one big cup in the first place.”

She said to me, “I don’t care about saving the environment.  I won’t be around for when it gets bad, anyway.”

I gasped.  I didn’t know what to say, and because it’s important that I retain these relationships of the people with whom I work, regardless of our differences of opinion; I opted to say nothing more.

I furiously thought to myself, “Yeah, it’s selfishness like yours that is the cause of our demise, anyway.  I won’t be around, likely, either, but our children will be, and they’re already having to begin cleaning up our parents’ messes.”

Sadly, I don’t believe that her careless opinion is unique.  Perhaps few others would be so willing to express their unquestionable lack of desire to conserve our resources and take preventative measures to decrease the _incredible_ amounts of waste we express, but I doubt that she is alone in having such an attitude.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  This woman is by no means a rotten person.  She is wonderful.  And I honestly feel that if she *believed* there was _something_ [easy] she could do that would change the fact that we’ve perfunctorily trashed this planet, she would probably do it.  The problem is, I think, that she doesn’t believe that there is anything she can do to change the situation.

So… why worry about something you cannot change?

Herein lies our problem:

Most of us do not take ownership for our own piece of the environmental puzzle.  We are not empowered to make rules on what other, larger, more wasteful entities do.  Instead, we are helpless and  fighting a battle that is far too big for individuals like ourselves to make any real difference.

Additionally, there are a great many folks who don’t believe there is an environmental problem at all– and therefore find it excusable to throw their trash where they please.  Or they justify their consumption by saying, “Well the Styrofoam cup was already formed.”  Or, even worse, they blame the tree-huggers for creating a “frenzy” that is not only untrue, but must indicate that they have some sort of alternative agenda because there’s no such thing as global warming…

The solution?

If each one of us took responsibility for our *own* lives, for the waste we create and the resources we consume, we would, together, be working towards the greater good of our environment.  We would band together in undiluted resonance, making an actual impact– an effect– on the nature of our environmental problems.

Truly, it doesn’t matter if global warming or over-sized carbon footprints are lies.  Really, if we are responsible for our own Self, then we find ourselves obligated to leave this place no worse off when we arrived. Which means obliterating the carelessness we encounter when addressing such simple issues. It means doing YOUR part in order to not trash the only livable place as far as we can see.