No Impact Man

May each go his own way

The other day I published a post called about finding your own path to helping the world by trusting yourself.

What I didn't say was that the post was inspired by something I read in the recently released book of secret writings by Carl Jung collected in The Red Book. The book is, in a way, Jung's journal of his voyage of self discover.

I thought I'd share the quote that inspired me:

Believe me: It is no teaching and no instruction that I give you. On what basis should I presume to teach you? I give you news of the way of this man, but not of your own way. My path is not your path, therefore I cannot teach you. The way is within us, but not in Gods, nor teachings, nor in laws. Within us is the way, the truth and the life.

Woe betide those who live by way of examples! Life is not with them. If you live according to an example, you thus live the life of that example, but who should live your own life if not yourself? So live yourselves.

The signposts have fallen, unblazed trails lie before us. Do not be greedy to gobble up the fruits of foreign fields. Do you not know that you yourselves are the fertile acre which bears everything that avails you?

Yet who today knows this? Who knows the way to the eternally fruitful climes of the soul? You seek the way through mere appearances, you study books and give ear to all kinds of opinion. What good is all that?

There is only one way and that is your way.

I will be no savior, no lawgiver, no master teacher unto you. You are no longer little children.

Giving laws, wanting improvements, making things easier, has all become wrong and evil. May each one seek out his own way. The way leads to mutual love in community. Men will come to see and feel the similarity and commonality of their ways.

Laws and teachings held in common compel people to solitude, so that they may escape the pressure of undesirable contact, but solitude makes people hostile and venomous.

Therefore give people dignity and let each of them stand apart, so that each may find his own fellowship and love it.

Power stands against power, contempt against contempt, love against love. Give humanity dignity, and trust that lfe will find the better way.

The one eye of the Godhead is blind, the one ear of the Godhead is deaf, the order of its being is crossed by chaos. So be patient with the crippledness of the world and do not overvalue its consummate beauty.

Trust the spark within and find your own path

Since the release of the No Impact Man book and film I have been privileged to be in conversation with many groups. And always, someone asks me with great earnestness, "What can I do?" Many times, in other words, people ask me for how-to-save-the-planet directions.

"Just start," I say.

And then I pause while they wait expectantly for more guidance.

"If you were to just start, without waiting for someone like me to come along, what would you do?" I ask finally.

Because, while I want to help and I want to support, I don't want to put people back to sleep by giving them connect-the-dot directions that don't require them to engage their spirits. I trust my listeners and my readers to figure things out for themselves way more than I trust myself to give them ideas that are appropriate to them.

After I ask what people would do if they didn't wait for someone like me to come along, there is another pause.

Finally, I might say, "Look to yourself for guidance. What would you like to do?"

And then a person might say: "I'd like to start riding my bike to work" or "I'd like to campaign against bottled water" or "I'd like to start a compost pile in my building" or "I'd like to tell people we should love each other  more."

Then I laugh. "So why are you asking me what you can do? Just start."

Most of us already know.

We know. You know.

Underneath the worry and the despair and the fear of doing the wrong thing, we are all imbued with a wonderful compassion and wisdom.

I love the word "inspire." It has the same route as to respire, to breathe. To be inspired means to have the breath within in us. The breath of what? Some might say God. Some might say something else. But the breath is within us. The compassion and wisdom is there. We are all inspired, filled with the breath.

This is why I try not to give directions: I do not want to risk replacing someone else's deep wisdom and compassion with my shallow ideas.

It could be said that,in many ways, the trouble we find ourselves in is actually caused by too many off us following directions. I don't want to give more directions. There isn't a shortage of directions.

One day, for example, a teacher raised her hand and said, "I want to teach second graders how to recycle. What should I do?"

But I am not a teacher. "You are the expert here, not me. You have much more of what is necessary to teach second graders about recycling than I do."

What she needed, what we all need, is the ability to trust ourselves. That second grade teacher simply needed to trust that she was enough, that she had enough to start.

Each of us already has what we need to save the world inside of us. It's a simply matter of trusting the impulse and putting one foot in front of the other without necessarily seeing where the path will ultimately lead.

A Buddhist might say, "Trust your True Self." A Christian might say, "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you." There is no need for directions. We all have a True Self. We all have the Kingdom of Heaven within us.

So many of us have nascent ideas for what we can do to help our communities or our planet, but we don't start because we are waiting for permission or directions from someone else. But we don't need permission. We don't need directions.

We can find our own paths.

We can take charge ourselves.

We can simply start.

Global warming or no, a renewable energy economy would bring a better world

Things are not going well there as you'll see by the video below. That's too bad for the American economy, for our prospects as world leader, and for our national security (even the US Army now believes that the geopolitical instability brought about by climate change will be one of the biggest threats to our security).

I make these points because some who read this blog don't believe in global warming. I do. But that's beside the point.

A worldwide transition to a renewable energy economy has other huge benefits too. Ask the people who are getting cancer from drinking tainted water downstream from coal mines. Ask the kids who get asthma from living near coal-burning power stations.

Whether American citizens believe in global warming or not, the rest of the world does. That means the rest of the world wants technological and industrial leaders in the race to renewable energy. You don't have to believe in global warming to know that you give the customers--the world energy market--what they want.

If the US is smart, we get the chance to sell the rest of the world renewable energy and we can stop depending on the unstable regimes which supply us oil.

So, if you want an energy system that will bring us jobs, national security while protecting the habitat that we depend upon for our health, happiness and security, join with me by asking President Obama to deliver that system. Ask him to make Copenhagen a success by clicking here.

Finally doing what I can about the Copenhagen climate talks

I Skyped with a good friend who is in Copenhagen participating in the climate negotiations today. She told me she woke up crying.

Yesterday, a large group of some 70 developing countries walked out of the climate talks because they felt that an unfair responsibility for carbon reductions was falling on poor countries. Luckily, they came back. But rich countries like ours are simply not doing enough.

There are so many obstacles to a meaningful treaty resulting from these talks. That's why my friend cried. She's been working 20 hour days.

"What are you saying about the talks on the blog?" she asked me.

"Nothing," I said. "What can I do from here? What can I say?"

"You have an audience!" she said.

And I realized.

I haven't been discussing the climate talks here on the blog because I have fallen into feelings of paralyzing helplessness. I have fallen into that terrible place of doubting that I can say or do anything that makes a difference and so not even bothering to try.

That, I know, is a big mistake. The question, I've written many times before, is not whether I can make a difference, but whether I want to be the type of person who tries. Each of us starts from where we are. We do what we can within our own life situation.

And what I can do tonight, from my bed where I am typing, is ask that you join with me by clicking here to automatically phone the White House to ask the President, when he shows up at Copenhagen next week, to push for a strong, binding treaty on climate.

As it says on the 1Sky blog, tell President Obama to step up on climate by:

Leading negotiations to create a fair, ambitious, and binding agreement based on the best and most current climate science;

Taking responsibility to protect vulnerable communities: The U.S. is responsible for over 1/3 of developed nation emissions, so we should finance at least 1/3 of allocations to protect vulnerable communities worldwide who are being hit first and worst by climate change, and help developing countries reduce their carbon emissions;

Building the political will necessary to pass a strong bill in the Senate this spring.

Making the call is easy. Click here, then enter your phone number, and an automated service will call you back and connect you to the White House. 

You can do that, and then, like me, you can pray (or, if you have no belief, hope).

In search of a unifying theory of all our problems

When you look at the climate problem and the difficulties we have dealing with it and you combine that with a consumer culture that doesn't seem to be making people happy, you'd think we'd be able to find a solution. You'd think we'd be able to do better by ourselves.

But things are moving so slowly. What I want to know is why? What is the fundamental human flaw? What is the single underlying assumption about how we live or what we do that is causing us to damage ourselves and the habitat we depend upon for our health, happiness and security?

On a subway train the other day, my friend Katherine told me that she thought that humans were congenitally dissatisfied. That human beings just couldn't ever be satisfied and want more and more no matter what they already had. At a food and climate summit where I spoke this week, someone else said it was our short term view of things. That we put immediate gratification before long term benefit.

So my question to you is, what do you think? What is the underlying problem with everything? What is it about us that, if we could work on it, would solve our difficulties? In short, what is your unifying theory of all our problems?

No Impact Project needs interns

From the No Impact Project:

Project

The No Impact Project (NIP) was conceived by Colin Beavan, aka No Impact Man, following the success of his blog, book, and film, which chronicle his family’s year-long experiment living a zero-waste lifestyle in New York City. Central to his thesis is the notion that deep-seated individual behavior change leads to both cultural change and political engagement. Living low-impact provides a clear entry point into the environmental movement. This thesis is the bedrock of NIP. 

Overview

The No Impact Project is looking for talented and motivated interns to work in close partnership with the Associate Director to ensure the successful execution of multiple programs during the coming winter break and/or spring semester. Interns will be vital in helping us build capacity in our fledgling organization.  Areas of responsibility will include:

• Program related research, development and execution
• Grant proposal research
• Curriculum outreach
• Social media and technology project development
• Communications and marketing
• Administrative duties

Time Commitment

15 hours/week in the “office” and/or telecommuting.

Start Date: ASAP

End Date: May 15 

Payment

None. Academic credit only (if applicable).  Letter of reference from Executive Director upon completion of internship.

Qualifications

• Excellent writing and research skills.
• Previous experience working for a small non-profit a plus.
• Interest in environmental issues.
• Ability to work independently and take initiative.
• Confident, good sense of humor, creative thinker (all requirements!)

Application

Please send a brief cover letter and resume (2 page max) to Stephanie at Stephanie@noimpactproject.org. 

 

No Impact Man screening and Christmas consumption discussion

From the No Impact Project:

Every year, growing numbers of us are unhappy with the shopping frenzy that surrounds the holidays but most of us don’t know how to get off the treadmill. What if we worked together to find another way to celebrate?  This holiday season join us in finding more of what matters.

During the two-weeks of the historic UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (December 7th-18th), we’re bringing people together to talk about the impact of holiday spending on their lives and the environment.  Join the No Impact Project and Center for a New American Dream for nationwide pre-DVD release community screenings of the documentary, No Impact Man, and a post-screening discussion about how to simplify our holidays this year.

Find a screening near you, click here.

What's important?

First thing, wanted to remind you that you can follow me on twitter here and friend me on on Facebook here. Onwards...

As you may know, Japan has lower per capita carbon emissions than any Western European country. For that reason, I asked my friend, Sean Sakamoto, who recently moved to Japan and who blogs at I'd Rather Be In Japan, to check in with us every so often. I thought we might be able to learn a little something about "happier planet, happier people" lifestyles from Sean's experience there.

You can read some of Sean's past posts here, here, and here.

Here is Sean's latest dispatch (by video). Kazu, so you know, is Sean's son: