What is integrity? Does it matter to you? Wikipedia describes it as

Integrity is the quality of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or earnestness of one’s actions. Integrity can stand in opposition to hypocrisy. It regards internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that people who hold apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter those values.

That description works for me. I find integrity valuable.

Growing up, I heard people tell more racist jokes than I hear today. Come to think of it, I can’t remember the last time I heard someone tell a racist joke (except about white people). I bet many people today have never told a racist joke.

I doubt you wonder why people tell fewer racist jokes than before. Racist jokes hurt people.

Does anyone believe that not telling a racist joke or two will stop racism? Of course not. The point of not telling any one racist joke is not to stop racism. One person’s actions alone won’t stop racism.

The point of not telling racist jokes is to avoid hurting people even if you can’t fix the whole global problem yourself. No one needs this point explained to them.

Yet people who don’t tell racist jokes even though they know their avoiding telling one joke or two won’t meaningfully affect global racism will rationalize and justify polluting by saying that their sustainability won’t meaningfully affect global pollution.

Does anyone believe that not polluting or depleting once or twice will end our environmental problems? Of course not. The point of not living sustainably is not to solve all our environmental problems. One person’s actions alone won’t restore sustainability.

The point of not polluting or depleting is to avoid hurting people even if you can’t fix the whole global problem yourself. Integrity means that what holds for living by your values in one part of life applies in other parts too.

• ← “Ecotourism”: What a scam. Why not “solve” other problems by calling them “ecolittering,” “ecopolluting,” and “ecoextinction”?
• “In the next 30 years, we’ll make four times more plastic waste than we ever have” →