By Mike Edwards | Tue., November 23, 12:03 PM | Comments ( 2 )
Last week I gave up a diet I had been trying to adhere to for the last few months.
I gave up because I tend to gorge myself on food and drink at weekends and, as such, have come to the conclusion that I am deluding myself if I think that I have any chance of losing some weight.
Unless I can commit 100 percent to a concerted weight loss programme there is little point in my doing anything to reduce my calorific intake, I thought. I was being a hypocrite if I thought I could continue to stuff my face and lose weight.
Yesterday I was standing in the queue at my local fish and chip shop, waiting to order a large portion of chips, when I had an epiphany - well, more of a realisation.
Despite eating and drinking lots at weekends I could still, over time, lose some weight if I reduced my overall consumption. I paid for my chips and walked home.
My lapsed diet made me think about the way we approach the environmental crisis and specifically how we view the issue of climate change. It also made me think about the reasons why, over the last few years, I had gone from being a fairly radical environmentalist to a fairly avaricious consumer.
When I lived in Australia, surrounded by some of Earth's most stunning scenery, there was a real point to my environmentalism. I lived in a beautiful part of the world and I wanted it to stay that way - simple as that.
Beauty - or at least my aesthetic interpretation of 'wild' spaces - motivated me to commit to my environmental beliefs (almost) 100 percent. In Australia, I had a lifestyle that allowed me to practise what I preached and therefore there was no contradiction between the way I lived and the values I held - they were largely synonymous.
There was no hypocrisy in my life (other than perhaps a love for handcrafted shoes from Northampton - a fetish I seem unable to shirk).
Of course, not all Australians hold my environmental views - witness the reluctance of many to take action to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases.
On my return to the UK, I underwent a transition of sorts. I unwillingly became part of a system that had very little meaning to me; indeed, it was alien. Within a few years I had a house, a job and a 3-hour commute each day. I was living a life I had vowed never to live - a 'normal' one.
As a 'normal' person, the environmentalism that had underpinned every aspect of my life started to lose its hold on me. As with my lapsed diet, I began to question the reasons why I would change my behaviour on environmental grounds if I couldn't commit to my environmentalism 100 percent.
BECOMING A HYPOCRITE
I became a hypocrite: I preached about 'saving the world' yet I took very few actions that would help society achieve my lofty aims.
Now, I use the label 'hypocrite' here rather loosely and perhaps incorrectly. I use it to refer to a person who does not practise what they preach as opposed to the 'correct' definition, which is a person who pretends to have a belief or view that they don't actually hold and, as such, is a liar. Anyway, back to hypocrisy and environmentalism.
I found that the day-to-day pressures of simply existing in the UK meant that my environmental beliefs were, in a sense, less valid - almost pointless. I existed in a world where people didn't seem to care and, as a result, I too started not to care.
The most worrying thing was that I started to understand why people didn't take action to address issues such as a warming world, biodiversity loss or the pollution of oceans and skies. It was simple; most people didn't have the time or space in their busy lives and minds to act on these issues.
Over time, I became like many other people - too tired to act. I still cared but this hope for a better future did not translate into action. There was no will, only hope, and this was because deep down I started to believe that my individual actions could do nothing to avert catastrophic climate change or save the golden toad from extinction.
I lived in this 'haze' for a couple of years. I still preached about the environment - the need to protect it and all that - but my words were hollow because they were not backed by actions.
Then, one day as I was about to board a plane to some distant destination to give a talk about the demise of the planet, I realised that my hypocrisy was not such a bad thing. Not a good thing, but definitely not a bad thing.
The fact is, I was getting on that plane because I cared. I know it sounds hypocritical but it's true!
I think many people are hypocritical environmentalists. They care about the state of the planet but they are living in societies that don't allow this environmentalism to manifest as action. And therein lays the challenge - to reorient our societies so that we do not have to be hypocrites. We need to create societies where it is easy, indeed normal, to take action to protect the environment.
My point, therefore, is to suggest that those who care about climate change but don't take action should embrace their hypocrisy and not beat themselves up too much. In our market-driven, growth-obsessed economies, we have little choice but to be hypocrites. It is, after all, extremely difficult for most people to operate outside the system, even if they would like to.
Herein lays the challenge! How do we go about changing the system? Of course this is an extremely difficult question to answer. However, the change will begin if the values that underpin our societies change.
If we can (re)connect to nature then I think things will begin to change 'naturally'.
If we all had more aesthetically pleasing and wild places in which to sit, contemplate and ponder the meaning of life, we would be more motivated to protect these areas and, in this protection will come prosperity, love, meaning and a gentler way of living that is sustainable for all and not just the rich few.
The real tragedy of the current ecological crisis is that the more we destroy the environment, the less connected we are to nature and the less importance we attach to the very systems and processes that make life on Earth possible.
At present, we have a globalised political and economic system which promises a world of eternal growth, untold riches and prosperity for all.
The lure of riches gives people a myopic view of what life is all about. The meaning of life becomes the domain of economists and so nature becomes a mere commodity. As a commodity, nature's value is set by those who will exploit it for short term economic gain.
TAKING BACK THE ENVIRONMENT
We need to wrestle the environment back from the economists and politicians and give it a new voice - a voice that can be heard by all, a voice that has meaning to all and a voice that speaks of a future where nature is valued not just for the ecosystem services it provides to humans, but for the bio and cultural diversity it allows to survive and thrive.
If we are to motivate people to move from hypocrisy to action, we need a new way of seeing the world and a new way of engaging with, and not destroying, nature. This will only be achieved if we ensure there is still nature to enjoy in all parts of the world.
If we continue down the current development path based on a very narrow Western conception of growth, there will be no space for 'wild' nature. All that will remain is a semblance or vestige of nature a ravaged nature that does little to stir either the heart or soul and, as such, continues to be destroyed as it does not merit protection.
Unless there is something worth protecting, people will remain hypocrites rather than activists.
Last week I gave up my diet because I thought it was pointless trying to follow it unless I was 100 percent committed. I gave up my environmentalism a number of years ago because I couldn't commit to it 100 percent. Giving up on both these endeavours was a mistake and was based on a misguided line of reasoning. Now that I have embraced my hypocrisy, I feel empowered once again.
The fact is, if we take the definition of hypocrisy provided above, all of us are hypocrites. We hold beliefs we don't always act on.
When it comes to the environment there are reasons for our hypocrisy - the systems we operate in don't allow us to live according to our deepest beliefs and therefore we live our lives in conflict, contradiction and, oftentimes, guilt.
For those of us who truly care about the present and the future, the time has come to change the political and economic systems that legitimise and institutionalise the causes of Earth's ills that which makes us hypocrites rather than activists.
Mike Edwards is the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development's climate change adviser.
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