Just past the Spring Equinox and suddenly it’s Climate week. Time to consider your environmental impact. Turn off lights, walk instead of driving, shop locally, grow your own. Except that just doing that for a week isn’t what is needed at all. What’s needed is a sea change in our attitudes. A return to a more cautious style of living where all decisions are carefully thought through, where no item is a throwaway. Because even if you don’t believe in climate change, it’s undeniable that we don’t have limitless resources. With more and more ppl in the world every day, there just isn’t enough for us all to live profligate lifestyles.
I think about our impact every day. I find it so hard to find objective information to make informed choices though. So on the one hand it seems that washing up by hand must use less power, then on the other I’m being told that dishwashers are more efficient. Can that really be true? How would I know? Most of the information out there is biased, presented by ppl trying to sell you something, whether it be the dishwasher (or other gadget) in question, or their chosen way of life.
So difficult. All you can really do, I think, is make the best decisions you can with the information you have at the time, and avoid beating yourself up over it. This is the only world we have though, and we do need to look after it, both for now, and for future generations. So for the time being, until I’m convinced otherwise, I’ll go on washing up by hand, and hoping that it can be part of a routine of small Zen Habits that improve my life day by day.