Posts tagged with "responsibility"

Who is responsible?

Last thoughts before weekend number 2:

Finally woke up to autumn with a spring in my step today.  Realised that I have been completely absorbed in work recently and after a big event yesterday is now over, is it that the autumn colours are brighter, or am I just able to notice them more?  Are we only able to notice nature if our other needs are being met?

Confession:  Went to Starbucks today having succumbed to their clever advertising and the temptations of dark cherry mochas (a ’special treat’ after big day yesterday). Cost me £2.70 (WHAT?) and I had to take away as I was late for work.  What could they do to be less wasteful?  And what could I do?  There’s a coffee shop in broughton street that charges 30p for take aways - how much do people need to be charged for take aways to make them sacrifice 2 minutes of their busy lives to enjoy their coffee indoors? 

I’m in the middle of reading a brilliant book called ‘Nudge’ - about “how to steer people toward better health, sounder investments and cleaner environments without depriving them of their inalienable right to make a mess of things if they want to.” (thanks for the nudge Joyce) And it’s made me think - how much do we need governments and other powerful organisations to intervene and ‘nudge’ us towards behaviours we know are better for everyone, but that we are incapable of choosing ourselves?  What issues are we responsible for and what issues do we need governments and the likes to influence us on?

Visited Barnardos last weekend and had some great finds:  amazing african print frilly blouse for £4 (not to everyone’s taste, but with the right outfit) and cosy but cool bodywarmer for £6.  How much more creative can we be with less money? How much more individual can we be with less direction? If fashion is just repeating itself then basically we already have all we need - we just need to use our creativity to pick the things which express our individual personality. Think Carrie Bradshaw in the early SATC days - much edgier and individual.  Less couture and following the herd.  No contest.

So who is responsible for what?

I think we are responsible for nudging ourselves towards reducing, reusing, using our creativity and expressing our individuality.

AND we are responsible for nudging those leaders in positions of power to make the changes neccessary to create the healthy sustainable urban spaces we need to experience the seasons as they happen - without travelling far in to the countryside.  Cities scattered with greenspaces and an infrastructure to support these cleaner, healthier behaviours.  Do we need to show leadership to be led?

Posted: November 6, 2008 | Author: Emma Little | Comments: Add 

Logic versus Emotion

Suffering from a real sense of frustration as I write this, which I’m not sure is the best state of mind to be writing a blog, but anyway…

I think I’m picking this up elsewhere in other people’s blogs, and maybe this is all “part of the process”, but the frustrations are multi-layered for me at the moment. A list might be in order, as cogent sentences are tricky right now:

1. It this all just a bunch of middle-class, indulgent nonsense? It’s definitely felt like that sometimes - particularly the look on some people’s faces when you try to explain. I’ve certainly failed in trying to explain it to my hairdresser… a story for another blog…

2. How do you move this beyond a small group of individuals who have had incredibly transformative experiences through their personal encounters with nature, to something which makes mass impact? That really was on my mind as I raced along the street in the pouring rain the other day, caught short in my reveries of the rain on the solo day in beautiful Knoydart by the sight of a homeless man, sat outside a shop, resigned as the downpour fell on him. I bet it’s unlikely he finds beauty anywhere, and that makes my heart hurt.

3. Language, language, language - the communications bit is driving me crazy (which I suppose you’d expect from an ex-tabloid hack). Thinking that if I’m going to take my responsibilities to this project seriously, I need to get more informed, I went to an event on climate change. It was completely and absolutely impenetrable. No wonder people retreat to recycled bags and energy-saving lightbulbs, it’s a darn sight easier. I was left feeling stupid (and I’m not, I’m a smart person - not academic - but smart) - by all the language and theories. But when I spoke to someone after it, they were dismissive, vehemently saying that the ubiquitous “Top 10″ recycling tips just aren’t enough to save us. Which left me thinking: “Well, if they aren’t, someone’s going to have to find a new way of making this accessible” - and, as Dave’s recent post http://www.naturalchange.org.uk/dave-key/dont-despair/  points out, making people feel like the end of the world is nigh ‘aint gonna cut it.

4. Lastly to the title of this post - logic versus emotion. This is how it feels - the logical arguements overwhelming the emotion. I still feel the experience of that first weekend so strongly -I’ve not lost it, despite the “blankets” of daily life - but it does feel, if not diminished, then not powerful enough, on it’s own, to change things. And yet…what the people who have responded to these blogs have shown, it is the emotional side of things which touches them, which moves them: comments on personal testimony, on pictures, on poetry, are clear enough signs of that. Is that the path to natural change? But how does that sit with the arguements over scale of response?

I’m drifting into territory I don’t yet know how to express. There is no neat conclusion to this blog for me - just a jumble of questions - but maybe you have some thoughts you want to share?

Posted: November 1, 2008 | Author: Louise Macdonald | Comments: 5 

Naturally distinctive

 

I’ve struggled a bit to bring a distinctly Christian faith perspective to the group. I was fearful of giving any perception of being preachy. Yet so much of it easily bridges to Christian faith and tradition. The earth prayers, the sharing of dreams, the acceptance of signs from nature such as a bird showing the way. These seemed so remarkably similar to the experiences of people hearing God and sensing His presence in nature.

 Discussions about religion, history, conflict and capitalism have swirled on the sidelines. Ideas of identity, destiny and insignificance in the face of the timelessness of the earth have engaged our minds around the picnic table in the garden. What bothered me was how insignificance was appreciated by others in the group. I felt this was a little dangerous.

I felt that embracing insignificance was morally hazardous.

Whilst in a context of timelessness and planetary scale our short three score and ten is certainly insignificant we live in a time when rich industrialised lifespans make deeper impacts on the earth. So there is a rebalance to be struck around historic responsibility for emissions and a recognition given to reparation and justice for those facing not insignificant impacts on their lives now.

Feeling insignificant is not motivational. Rather finding belief in change and empowering others to change flows from understanding your significance in the circle of influence available to you and linked to that connections locally and globally.

There is much significance in living for compassion and justice, going the extra mile, and fulfilling a destiny that delivers natural life affirming change.

Posted: September 30, 2008 | Author: Gavin McLellan | Comments: 2