Is it in your nature to try?

Can the way I live really make a difference?

That's one of the things we worry about, right? When it comes to figuring out whether to get involved in the political process or to make our lifestyles more sustainable, we all wonder if, in fact, we will make the slightest bit of difference. Is it worth the effort?

Well, I have a friend, Mayer Vishner, who has been a peace activist since the 1960s. I help him grow vegetables on his plot at Laguardia Community Gardens in New York's Greenwich Village.

I once joked with Mayer, "Hey Mayer, you've been working for peace for 40 years. Don't you think it's time you looked for a new cause? I'm not sure your peace idea has any traction."

You know what he said? He said, "I've given up on worrying about the results. I have a vision of the way the world should be, and I've just come to accept that it's in my nature to keep trying. So I keep trying."

Michael Pollan, in his New York Times article on Sunday, makes a more rational case for taking action:

"If you do bother, you will set an example for other people. If enough other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain reaction of behavioral change, markets for all manner of green products and alternative technologies will prosper and expand. (Just look at the market for hybrid cars.) Consciousness will be raised, perhaps even changed: new moral imperatives and new taboos might take root in the culture. Driving an S.U.V. or eating a 24-ounce steak or illuminating your McMansion like an airport runway at night might come to be regarded as outrages to human conscience. Not having things might become cooler than having them. And those who did change the way they live would acquire the moral standing to demand changes in behavior from others — from other people, other corporations, even other countries."

I completely agree with Michael. I have faith. On the other hand, maybe he's right. Maybe he's not. How can we know for sure?

So sometimes, the question of whether we can make a difference or not may be the wrong question. I think another line of inquiry might just as productively go like this: Do I want to be the kind of person who tries or the kind of person who doesn't?

It took me 42 years to realize it, but I want to be like Mayer Vishner. I want to be the kind of person who tries. Whether Michael Pollan is 100% right or 50% or 10% right, when the game is over, I want to be one of the people who tried. Whether the world is saved or not, whether I'm still alive to see it or not, I want to be able to say I tried.

And I'm not saying I'm perfect or that I'm never selfish or that I don't ever want an iPhone. I'm saying that given my set of circumstances and my temperament, within those limitations, not willing to martyr myself or anything like that, I still want to be the type of person who tries--even if the chance of results look slim.

So today, writing this blog, given all the effort I spend trying to affirmatively answer that question of whether each of us can make a difference, what I'm much more interested in today is this question:

How can I be the kind of person who tries?

PS For those of you who care, I finally have a profile on Facebook. It's here.

Comments

[Annemiek]

Hi Colin,
Thanks for everything you do. I’ve been following your blog for more than half a year now and you really inspire me to keep trying.
In the seventies or eighties there was a famous poster in the Netherlands which said something like: “Imagine there’s a war and nobody goes …” .
Imagine there’s a flight and nobody wants to go on it …
Imagine there are plastic cups and nobody wants to use them …
Imagine there’s a lot of stuff and nobody wants to buy it …

[becky]

me, too. i have to try.

my favorite quote from michael pollan's "why bother?" piece in the green issue of sunday's times was "sometimes you have to act as if your action will make a difference, even if you can't prove that it will."

and i very much relate to annemiek's words above. i spend a lot of time in that imagined world!

and the urban homestead farmer, jules dervaes, also featured in the same nytimes green issue gave a lecture at uc berkeley (available for download) where he mentioned his philosophy on organic gardening- something like "so the bugs won that round. i learned something. now we go on to round two."

besides, trying is its own reward! i'm happier trying than i ever was giving in!

[Hendrik]

[quote]And those who did change the way they live would acquire the moral standing to demand changes in behavior from others — from other people, other corporations, even other countries. -Micheal Pollan[/quote]

This is something I totally disagree with, because it will not further our cause. If we are elitist, we are arrogant and look down on people. We can NOT demand from other people to change. We can inspire them - like Mayer Vishner inspired you to continue with your cause, and you yourself inspire people to change their habits.

Otherwise a very encouraging post, one in the line of many!

[Flint Beika]

If we don't try, who will? I also feel the need to try, and I love this argument. The next time someone scoffs at my attempts and asks me why I bother, rather than get defensive I'll just hit them with this.

By the way this post reminds me of an earlier one about your wife and the lady at the coffee shop-that's evidence that the small things do influence people :)

[Andy]

I'm pretty selfish on this, but I think it works out just fine. I'm not trying to have less impact because it could "save the world." While I do think that personal choices make a big difference, there will inevitably be actions hugely bigger than us which will shape the future, for example, if sea levels rise 50 feet, or if temperatures rise 10 degrees.

I have learned that the way I live is more sustainable than most people. I never directly try to change people into becoming more sustainable, but I can see that some aspects of my lifestyle are followed by those around me that may not have made those changes without seeing others do it successfully. That is what I liked so much about the NIM-year. Colin was making personal choices that made other people see that it is possible to live a more sustainable life, without making it seem like we need to live like cavemen.

[Vicki]

This reminds me of when someone told Mother Theresa that she wasn't very successful at eradicating poverty after all the years she'd spent working with the poor and suffering. She said, "God called me to be faithful, not successful." If we only take action that we have calculated will succeed, we totally deny hope, faith, the possibility of a miracle or sea-change in attitudes and behavior.

[Benton]

M.K. Gandhi once said

"Satisfaction does not come with achievement, but with effort. Full effort is full victory."

How very true this is

[d.a.]

To be a compassionate, inclusive agent of change in the culture of consumption is becoming more & more rewarding. The challenge, as folks have noted above, is in not being attached to outcome.

[Deb G]

Just want to say, I agree :)

[jersey jim]

Happy Earth Day, everyone.

[mary]

I was out with my friend last year at a bookstore. She purchased her book and said "no bag please". Since that day I have requested the same. I hope someone behind me in line will think..."hey I don't need a bag either" I see more and more people with canvas bags in the supermarket. I know it's not much, but the more and more people do the little things they add up to BIG things.

[Uma]

The Bhagavad Gita ("Song of the Lord" contained in the Hindu epic "Mahabharat") says, “To action alone hast thou a right and never at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive; neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction.”

[Zach]

we must try, because we must live. Getting to sustainable living is much like getting out of debt and requires many of the same hacks, techniques, and dogged determination toward reduction.

Anybody who's living green should be able to get out of debt and retire rich.

[Farmwife]

I agree with Hendrik here -- you cannot "demand" that people change to suit your purpose. That said, showing change by example is a wonderful thing.

I sure hope it's not looked down upon to eat my 24 ounce steak from my OWN pasture raised beef! Or that my friend with 13 children who lives 15 miles out of town on snowy dirt roads has to give up her SUV (how would she move all those kids???)

[Bill]

You have an amazing ability to nail what I'm thinking. Your first LV GRN post caught my attention and made me a regular reader.

I'm in the midst of James Howard Kunstler's sad and moving novel "World Made by Hand" about a potential post-peak oil world, and found myself thinking, "Why bother if we can't make enough of a difference?" And then I read this.

Thank you. I needed this today to help me keep trying.

[Anne A]

I work in an office with about 90 people and we all received free reusable grocery bags today for Earth Day. A perfect example of how people's efforts are bringing about changes in the way we live. Thanks for trying.

[Jessica]

And yet another pang of guilt over having bought an iPhone with part of my tax return money. Oh, how I wish I could go back and un buy it!

[Val]

You put into words today what I've been feeling for so long but haven't been able to describe.
Thanks, Colin.
I shared this on my blog - I hope you don't mind.

[Dominque]

I have a slightly different take on Micheal Pollan's quote then Hendrik did. I see it as an example that you cannot ask other people to be accountable for their actions if you are not accountable for your own (people in glass houses should not throw stones). This ties directly back to some of Colin's original drive for the project which was living the life style that went along with what he believed.

[Diane Gandee Sorbi]

So right, Colin. No matter the outcome, we all have to keep trying. I admit I occasionally have one of those days when I read and hear nothing but bad news, and find myself wondering why I bother, because the planet probably isn't going to survive anyway, and why not just party till the end! But then I remember that just like everyone else, I can only do my best. Individually, I can't control the outcome, but I still need to be able to live with myself. Thanks for the reminder.

BTW, Happy Earth Day everyone!

[Greenpa]

One thing that truly helps, when you are struggling and feeling powerless, is to KNOW that - you are NOT alone. A bunch of us are trying anyway- and more, all the time. Here's my takeon it- from last year- in response to Colin's post titled, amusingly, "Why Bother?" We're recycling!

[arduous]

Uma, that's so funny, I was about to quote the Bhagavad Gita as well.

I actually never ever understood that quote until this year. Now I get it. :)

[Rochelle]

After having read Colin's blog for a few months, I too was inspired to make changes. So I started composting at home and then the coffee grinds, tea bags, etc. at my office. Eventually, people started asking questions and to my knowledge, at least four coworkers are now composting in their homes based on what they have seen myself and fellow staff do in our office. It's a start. Perhaps those four will influence four more, and so on.

Change starts somewhere and I am glad to be a part of it. I challenge myself to change my behaviors and perceptions and have a shred of hope for the future. Thanks Colin and other commenters for your thoughts!

[Chris]

What a coincidence it is for me that you wrote on this subject today. I've been reading your blog for about a year now, and, like many others, find not only inspiration and useful information, but encouragement and hope. The past few days, I've been feeling dejected because it doesn't seem like anyone in my immediate circle of family and friends wants to think or talk about news on climate change. I don't blame them - it's depressing.
However, I find it even MORE depressing when no one feels compelled to discuss it at all. If we don't discuss it, then how can we decide to try to do something about it? We sit around and get worked up about the economy and health care and the price of oil and food, but not our environment? (And also fail to see how it is ALL linked together?)
Sorry. I didn't mean to go off on a rant with this.
I really just wanted to say thank you for today's post. It's exactly what I needed to hear right now. I've signed up with 1Sky to host a Mother's Day event, and even if only one other person shows up, I will be happy because I will be trying, and, hopefully, setting a good example for my children.
If the earth is not worth trying for, then what is?
Thanks again, Colin!

[Mike]

A lot of religious overtones here, from the reference to martyrdom to the 'being one of the people who tries.' It's impossible for a Christian to know whether they will be pious enough to go to heaven, but one thing they do know is that the guy worshiping a pig doesn't look like a person who fits god's description of heaven-bound. Better to be one of the ones who tries, even if their interpretation of the bible is only 50% right.

I'm working at living greener because it feels better, each step of the way. I doubt I'll make an impact, but whatever. I'm not doing it so W's spawn can live happier lives, I'm trying to do it for myself and the people around me.