Reframing sustainability from fear, and ‘if we don’t we will perish’, to success, and ‘if we do we will win’.
One thing that I dislike about sustainability, particularly in the climate area, is the (what I believe to be) overuse of fear- and anxiety-inducing tactics to highlight the importance of the issues, especially amongst young people. Before this comes across as me underestimating the magnitude of the issues we face: As a disclaimer, I am all too aware of the stark reality and potential futures we face as a society should we fail to address the current and incoming challenges around sustainability. For the most part, fear drives action and attention far greater than happiness or prosperity does (Einstein famously said “Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear, and greed”), but I think that this produces two potential outcomes for people (especially youth) in the grand scheme of things: either truly inhibiting levels of anxiety, stealing youth away from youth; or absolute apathy toward making changes for a better society.
I’ve read plenty of articles highlighting the prevalence of climate anxiety amongst youth, and that quite frankly scares me; the combination of this along with the increase in social pressure from overuse and cognitive overload from technology and social media among younger and younger people is producing a deadly cocktail, ridding young people of any true, simple joy that should be so plentiful in youth — before the trials and tribulations of adult life seep in. On the flip side, I know plenty of people who simply don’t care about sustainability or climate action, and think it’s a load of bullshit (there is a body of work here to understand why they think it’s bullshit; one hypothesis I have is that they don’t think it’s bullshit once they break it down scientifically and pragmatically, but rather find the constant social overload and polarisation around sustainability to be grossly intrusive on their version of a quality personal life). For those who look at sustainability from an apathetic or nihilistic viewpoint, I see two major outcomes: inaction, and an outright refusal to act; or, perhaps worse than that, half-hearted efforts in this to be seen to be sustainable (the prime cause of greenwashing, bluewashing, or any-colour-you-want-washing).
I would love to see a reframing of how young people can partake effectively in sustainability to be pragmatic change-makers, by seeing their involvement as a healthier mix of opportunity to do and be better, while also understanding the responsibility they have to ‘be the change they want to see’ (I hate clichés, but this fits). On a tangent, I see issues here from people’s lack of wanting to be better and to do more (contentment with the status quo, and simply existing), and a lack of seeing how this benefits them, rather than a graduate programme pathway into an arguably monotonous, but well-paying and highly prestigious, job. Is the task here, then, to change sustainability’s linkage from fear, and ‘if we don’t we will perish’, to success, and ‘if we do we will win’? That could potentially get the high-performers on board more effectively; being pragmatically sustainable will help you achieve your goals in life.
I’m a firm believer in meritocracy, and admittedly having the knowledge that by being pragmatically sustainable I will be working close to my maximum capacity and potential is a very, very strong motivator toward my actions in both my professional and personal life. This could also allow for some sense of FOMO (there’s surely a better phrase than that) to put in effort, and to focus on ‘being good at doing good’, rather than just ‘looking good’, insofar as there’s almost a stigma created that if somebody isn’t operating in a pragmatic way toward building sustainable futures, then why are they allowing themselves to be sub-optimal, or below their potential? Even writing that, I’m not sure about that; there are unexpected outcomes within that, which I fear may do more harm than good in the long run. However, one potential tangential outcome I see happening from this reframing is that young people gain a better sense of responsibility as they progress through life. The biggest change in my life so far has come from understanding the importance of responsibility. I’m not saying this has to be huge levels of responsibility, but the understanding that in many areas of life (not all), the individual has the power to improve the areas of their life that they find lacking, especially by reframing the ideas of ‘why do bad things always happen to me?’ to ‘if something in life isn’t as I want it to be, it’s probably up to me and in my locus of control to improve the situation’.
And perhaps that ties in well with the initial point of this ramble; as difficult as it is, by putting your focus and attention from negative, anxiety-inducing thoughts, around sustainability or otherwise, to a more proactive, action-oriented, and ‘put in the work to get the results’ approach, then you may find far more progress and interest being achieved by the youth population as a whole. And if this were the case, the knock-on effect on the powerful individuals and organisations who are currently laggards in achieving a sustainable society would be staggering. We all saw how embarrassed and quick to act corporations and governments were when young people came together and said they wanted action; imagine if young people started out-performing the C-Levels and leaders of the world. I can’t imagine a much better kick in the ego and incentive to do better than a CEO and their company being outperformed by a group of young people, who until recently had to (or still have to) ask permission to leave the classroom to use the bathroom.
This piece started as a rambling series of thoughts while travelling. It’s a rather subjective piece of writing, and I’m posting this to gain new perspectives and thoughts on the matter, so if you have read this far I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on this either through comments or direct message (as honest as you’d like; I’m a believer in critiquing over criticising).
