262: Unstable for a phase change
People talk about leadership causing ripple effects and hope that environmental action may lead to ripples.
I see the potential for more. People like acting on their environmental values when they do. They just don’t like being coerced or being made to feel shame or guilt. Few like going first.
If most people like acting by their environmental values, someone going first may cause everyone else to crystallize into the new behavior. By crystallize, I mean that many people will change their behavior fast and across a wide scale.
I can’t guarantee society will change that way that fast, but I believe I see signs suggesting it will. I start today’s episode with an example of podcast guest Navy SEAL officer Larry Yatch, his wife, and his sons without trying leading strangers to pick up other people’s garbage from the beach. Since few people wake up and decide to pick up others’ garbage, this behavior tells me people want to do it.
I believe society only needs a few or even one well-known person to act to cause a major shift.