In this issue:
-Fighting Negative Vision

::FIGHTING NEGATIVE VISION::

Sometimes I wonder if it's all in my head. Maybe I'm just unhappy with my life, and our relationship with the environment provides a scapegoat and vent for my frustrated idealism. Maybe things are supposed to be this way, maybe our species is doing what it's supposed to be doing. Maybe we're one of those species that overruns its habitat, wipes itself out, and sets the stage for something better.

All of these things are quite possible. But something tells me that to sit back and watch it all unfold is not what I should be doing, whether it's futile or not. Even if our species is bound toward self-destruction, we're also programmed for self-preservation. If the nagging feeling I have that something's wrong with what we're doing has no merit to it all, then at the very least it's a manifestation of my desire to survive.

The way I see it, our species is somewhere near the peak of its achievements, and that sooner than later, things are going to go downhill. The theory of Olduvai Gorge is one example. Blackouts have become more and more frequent and widespread, implying that the system we depend on is getting less and less dependable. If we continue in this direction, one day the lights are going to go out for good, and I'm worried that it might be in my lifetime.

On the other hand, I know it's wrong to base my life on avoiding the worst-case scenario. Peter Senge calls it "conflict manipulation," and describes it in The Fifth Discipline, which I recently reviewed:

"...we try to manipulate ourselves into greater effort toward what we want by creating artificial conflict, such as through focusing on avoiding what we don't want....sadly, most social movements operate through conflict manipulation or 'negative vision,' focusing on getting away from what we don't want, rather than creating what we do want..." (p157)

Sure, I'm terrified of what the direction in which we're heading. And it's very effective in spurring me into action, at least temporarily. But cynicism has a way of sucking the life out of you.

Inspiration is far more effective at changing things than fear, but it's also much harder to find. We're so used to focusing on problems and how to solve them that we ignore the good stuff and how to create more of it. And then there's the whole self-denial thing, a stronghold of organized religion that has probably touched most of our lives. Take, for example, the whole "voluntary simplicity" movement. A couple of years ago, I read a book on this way of life. It sounded very nice, but I couldn't help feeling like I was settling somehow.

I don't think that they key is to want less. Rather, it's about finding out what we REALLY want. Desire goes hand in hand with appreciation, and when we appreciate things, we tend to take care of them. Considering that everything we get is from the environment (and for the most part, this planet), we're much better off learning how to create what we really want and how to take care of it then settling for what we THINK we want.

Easier said than done. We've all heard the question, "If you had all the money and resources in the world, what would you do?" The typical response is: "Quit my job, buy a tropical island, and sit on the beach sipping cocktails all day," or something like that. But let's be honest. I can think of very few people who wouldn't get bored with that after a while.

After years of struggling with this question (and still going), I've found it helpful to ask WHY you want something. The answer almost always surprises me. Why do I want to sit on the beach and watch the horizon? Because it's a really good alternative to sitting in a cubicle and getting told what to do. But if I wasn't trying to escape wage slavery, then what would I do? And so on...

Maybe one day I'll discover that I don't really want to help the environment...that maybe I'm doing this for some deeper reason, one that has not so much to do with the environment but with something else. Even then, it'd be better than doing things mindlessly.

Ultimately, it's the desires that I continually uncover and refine that motivate me. And it gives me the satisfaction of knowing that I'm helping the environment not because I'm scared, or I feel guilty, or I'm worried about the end of the world, but because it's part of what I truly want.

Till next month,

Krystle C.

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