I have done a lot of thinking about sustainability recently, perhaps due to the occurrence of the new year and the subsequent ‘resolution’ posts that appear on social media. What prevents individuals from following through on their resolution to ‘be more sustainable’ or ‘create less waste’?
Conceptually, these are quite simple things to achieve. Step 1: think about your consumption and where you can minimise waste, Step 2: Purchase more responsibly, buy in bulk and recycle, Step 3: Repeat. This is, of course, an oversimplification of a much more substantial process but the overwhelming point is, the application of a sustainable lifestyle is often not maintained. Why?
There is of course the initial expense – buying solar panels, purchasing bulk ingredients/storage equipment, planting/maintaining a garden etc. However, these costs are generally no more expensive than maintaining a consumptive lifestyle and indeed, often become far less as time progresses.
There is also the time and effort involved in learning how to be sustainable, how to find alternative uses for things, researching and everything that goes along with it. If a person is truly passionate about becoming sustainable or maintaining sustainability then this investment of time is inconsequential – you do what you love. It is when you haven’t yet learned to love it that the time becomes a problem.
I am going to do a bit more research on this subject – “What prevents sustainability” and potentially circulate a survey around my home town. This is the crux of the matter, if we can get individuals to sustain their positive change then we can make an impact on society as a whole.
I’d be interested to hear opinions on what prevents individuals from making sustainable change. Only through knowing what the roadblocks are can we hope to overcome them.
positivesacrifice 