{"id":3964,"date":"2008-12-24T06:00:05","date_gmt":"2008-12-24T12:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=3964"},"modified":"2008-12-24T06:00:05","modified_gmt":"2008-12-24T12:00:05","slug":"meditation-hard-choices-of-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/meditation-hard-choices-of-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"Meditation: Hard Choices of Sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>Environmentalism and the many other ethically minded \u201c-Isms\u201d (with capital \u201cI\u201d) have many codes of conduct, norms, standards, platforms, principles, mantras, mandates, rallying cries, stump speeches, demands, desires, agendas, and affirmations. Such as\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cReduce. Reuse. Recycle.\u201d Despite the didactic deluge from the \u2013Isms, actually living in a sustainable, socially conscientious way is far from easy. It is not a matter of memorizing the rules, following the crowd, or going with \u201cthe flow.\u201d Life, green or not, is a whole heckuva lot harder than that.<\/p>\n Indeed, the situations in which one must make a hard choice to be sustainable (or most sustainable, or even something resembling sustainable) are infinite, each one with many shades of green and nuances for ethical worrying over. This is especially true during the holiday season, when folks are feeling generous and so looking to give their loved ones some kind of gift–many of which are not very eco-friendly.<\/p>\n Yes, the complexity and reality<\/strong> of reality prohibits any reliable de facto rules. The quandaries we will face are infinite, but here are a few scenarios and larger questions that come to mind when I ponder this realization of mortality:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Surely many of you have found yourselves in situations like these or that posed the same sort of ethical, environmental dilemmas. I sometimes–okay, frequently–find myself standing frozen in the middle of a store aisle or even at home trying to figure out the greenest choice in some decision. The answers are never very clear, and few if any are without costs and consequences of some sort that I would rather avoid. But still the choices–usually–have to be made\u2026.<\/p>\n Ultimately, I believe it boils down to listening to your heart. If you are firmly committed to doing no harm, to helping and supporting all other living beings, then your heart will help you make those choices that seem right for everyone<\/strong> involved–including yourself.<\/p>\n Of course, those internal voices are legion, the red devils and the green angels (or is it the other way around?) will chime in and bicker whenever they get the chance. Yet I believe that deep inside, there is one voice that always speaks, even if it speaks much more quietly than all those talking (shouting) heads in your head.<\/p>\n It speaks\u2026but that still does not mean the choices will not be hard to make much of the time.<\/p>\n Kermit the Frog was right: It\u2019s not easy being green.<\/p>\n Image credit: Erin Silversmith<\/a> at Wikimedia Commons<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Environmentalism and the many other ethically minded \u201c-Isms\u201d (with capital \u201cI\u201d) have many codes of conduct, norms, standards, platforms, principles, mantras, mandates, rallying cries, stump speeches, demands, desires, agendas, and [ … ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":3965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[8512],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\u201cThink globally. Act locally.\u201d
\n\u201cYou must be the change you want to see in the world.\u201d
\n\u201cDo no harm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n