“Have you learned to love not flying?”
I’m always working on more effective ways to lead on sustainability. Recall my definition of leadership: helping people do what they already wanted to but haven’t figured out how. To help others, I have to learn what they want, the opposite of opposing my values on them.
Most people I ask tell me they support sustainability and are doing their best. They seem to think they aren’t anywhere close to the top few percent of polluters.
One of the most important ways to improve our lives is to change our behaviors compromising our values. The problem is that it’s painful to admit we’re violating our values, especially deep values such as those embodied in:
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (the Golden Rule)
Love your neighbor as yourself
Live and let live (common decency)
Leave it better than you found it (stewardship)
The other day I went to an event promoting “passionate sustainability conversations.” I think everyone there would describe themselves as green, environmentally minded and acting, or such. Yet it was held in a car dealership, giving out doof in disposable containers. Everyone I asked said they flew within the past month or two and planned to fly again before the end of the year.
I made sure to ask in a way they wouldn’t feel judged. I’m not judging, but people can’t stop their own consciences from signalling they’re violating their own values.
I hit on a new way to ask about someone’s flying habit:
Have you discovered the joy of not flying?
also:
Have you discovered the joy of living locally, so flying distracts from it?
I don’t claim these phrasings solve everything, but they’re a start. How I communicate can sometimes count more than what.
Read my weekly newsletter
On initiative, leadership, the environment, and burpees