Ending polluting may seem hard, but the only thing worse than ending pollution is not ending it.
I was talking to an Army Ranger. He said one thing he and his peers said to each other during the most grueling parts of training, when they wanted to give up was:
The only thing worse than being a Ranger is not being a Ranger.
He said it motivated them to keep going and love the experience, the challenge, the self-awareness of reaching your potential, acting in service of others and your greatest values.
It rang true when applied to sustainability. People seem to see not polluting as a fate worse than death, or as grueling as Ranger training. Every step of living more sustainably brings freedom, joy, fun, and other reward, when motivated for intrinsic reasons, which we all have.
So I say:
Ending polluting may seem hard, but the only thing worse than ending pollution is not ending it.
Enjoy the work. It’s its own reward. It benefits your life as much as kicking any addiction, like heroin, meth, gambling, or crack.
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