Green thinker? Moi? Why thankyou!
Hi there
My name is Al and I run City Hippy (http://www.cityhippy.net) - a green diary of our struggle to live a greener and fairer life.
We are a collective of writers based in the UK, USA, Canada and a few other parts of the planet. Mostly City Hippy is me though!
The team at Greenthinkers have kindly invited me to contribute occasionally to this site...feel quite honoured!
So here is my first contribution. I intend to post a Green thought o' the month. May post more but have a baby due (well my wife does anyway) on Nov 26th AND City Hippy to run of course AND a regular job etc etc.
Have been watching the Greenthinkers blog for just under a year now and have enjoyed the content. But what I think I enjoy most of all is the whole premise of the site: A place for green thinking. Sounds so idyllic. If this site were a place it would be a friends house just above a lake in a forest outside of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. Bliss!
City Hippy's green thought o' the month
Over at City Hippy we really do not like to criticise or get negative if people are not perfectly green (as if that is even possible). We do not like it when green people judge other green people for being LESS green than they are. Or when people get all told you so, as if the effects of global warming are something to be gloated over!
We all do what we are comfortable doing. The real issue is about helping people get green and that requires helping them to understand what they do, why they do it and the impact of their actions.
That is how people change for the better: by understanding and changing themselves. Bullying does not work! Upsetting people and stealing their energy does not make them more likely to consider their actions and adopt greener behaviour.
We find that by being supportive and helpful, people tend towards logical, sensible & rational behaviour. And being green is all about considered behaviour, cause & effect, reconnecting and ultimately feeling a part of nature and not apart from nature!
If you think that makes sense then check out a great book I am reading, a book I intend to review soon on City Hippy called:
The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late
So for me, Greenthinkers (& City Hippy for that matter), is all about positive reinforcement to help people get green, at whatever pace suits them. The alternative is absurd.
City Hippy's Take-away: Remember that the goal is to live in a green world NOT to win some green behaviour competition. Next time someone reaches out to you to try and get green, embrace that positive opportunity and help them make the change!
Namaste
CH
My name is Al and I run City Hippy (http://www.cityhippy.net) - a green diary of our struggle to live a greener and fairer life.
We are a collective of writers based in the UK, USA, Canada and a few other parts of the planet. Mostly City Hippy is me though!
The team at Greenthinkers have kindly invited me to contribute occasionally to this site...feel quite honoured!
So here is my first contribution. I intend to post a Green thought o' the month. May post more but have a baby due (well my wife does anyway) on Nov 26th AND City Hippy to run of course AND a regular job etc etc.
Have been watching the Greenthinkers blog for just under a year now and have enjoyed the content. But what I think I enjoy most of all is the whole premise of the site: A place for green thinking. Sounds so idyllic. If this site were a place it would be a friends house just above a lake in a forest outside of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. Bliss!
City Hippy's green thought o' the month
Over at City Hippy we really do not like to criticise or get negative if people are not perfectly green (as if that is even possible). We do not like it when green people judge other green people for being LESS green than they are. Or when people get all told you so, as if the effects of global warming are something to be gloated over!
We all do what we are comfortable doing. The real issue is about helping people get green and that requires helping them to understand what they do, why they do it and the impact of their actions.
That is how people change for the better: by understanding and changing themselves. Bullying does not work! Upsetting people and stealing their energy does not make them more likely to consider their actions and adopt greener behaviour.
We find that by being supportive and helpful, people tend towards logical, sensible & rational behaviour. And being green is all about considered behaviour, cause & effect, reconnecting and ultimately feeling a part of nature and not apart from nature!
If you think that makes sense then check out a great book I am reading, a book I intend to review soon on City Hippy called:
The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late
So for me, Greenthinkers (& City Hippy for that matter), is all about positive reinforcement to help people get green, at whatever pace suits them. The alternative is absurd.
City Hippy's Take-away: Remember that the goal is to live in a green world NOT to win some green behaviour competition. Next time someone reaches out to you to try and get green, embrace that positive opportunity and help them make the change!
Namaste
CH
Tags: cityhippy green ethical sustainable
5 Comments. Add your comments!
I work full time at an energy conservation company. I find it amazing how energy conservation projects Pay for themselves, provide positive cash flow and improve people's comfort. Yet when we talk with businesses about this they take months to figure this out. Does anyone know a better way to get people to Do the right thing?
EcoJ@FirstEnergyGroup.com
By EcoJ, at 9:52 PM, October 08, 2005
I think that for one, people who are pro-environment should never be anti-business just for the sake of. We need to make people and businesses see the environmental and economical benefits to being green are. And, if there aren't any economic advantages yet we have to try and figure out how to create them.
By Scott, at 12:48 AM, October 09, 2005
I can't agree with ecoj or scott more. It's really discouraging when the MSM pits successful/profitable biz against sustainalibity/environmentalism. More often than not, the two go, or can go, hand in hand --
By Siel, at 11:52 PM, October 10, 2005
In my volunteer work on my city's Transportation Commission, and as co-founder of Pasadena Walks! I have found that the Stone Soup approach works very well.
Get a person to make one easy change and pretty soon they are interested in one more, and one more, until an entire life has been rededicated to not living at the expense of the earth, but as part of it.
Praise for positive steps does more than castigation for not going further.
Roger
By Roger, Gone Green, at 10:14 PM, October 16, 2005
Just got round to my next post on the site and read all these comments.
Ecoj
It is tricky ... but surely the answer is in your own comment.
You say: they take months to figure this out.
I say: help make it easier for them to figure it out quicker. Independent studies? Case studies? Have you tried that kind of approach? What about asking them what would speed it up? Also, businesses do tend to react slowly and the larger the business more often than not, the slower it gets.
I am planning a Green Office post soon on http://www.cityhippy.net - Will email you and chat some more for sure.
Scott
I could not agree more ... spot on ... positivity causes change.
Siel
Hey Siel, buddy, Starbucks Challenging pardner, again I agree with you totally ... people react to positivity not negativity.
Roger
I agree entirely and love the Stone Soup approach ... a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step for sure!
Namaste to you all
CH
By City Hippy, at 5:08 PM, November 07, 2005
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