I won't belabor this topic too much. I enjoy it and believe that it is
extremely important for exploring an ecopath. But, since Jeff is the only
one responding, I assume it is of little interest to most of the others.
And, perhaps, some feel it does not really follow Jeff's stated purpose of
the list:
"The goal of Ecopath is to connect daily life with sustainable
philosophy...(through) specific knowledge and understanding (for) use in
daily life...to enjoy life and make change slowly...a vision of
sustainability (that is) motivating, positive, and reasonable."
Jeff wrote:
> Or... ethics are simple rules which express our basic beliefs.
They need not be simple. Sometimes I think we create problems when we want
things to be simple. I agree that "ethics express our basic beliefs", as
long as "basic beliefs" are not what we think and say they are, but what we
actually put into action.
> >One tool is to look at what you ARE DOING NOW and see what that can tell
> >you about your ethics.
>
> This is difficult to do. We need a reference point to compare to
> and introspection is very painful for some people. Hummm, this
> needs some thought.
Just because it is difficult and painful, does not mean it is not valuable
or worth doing. It is not always easy to do the right thing, and always
doing the easy thing can often lead to trouble. Perhaps effort is needed
to find ways to make this process easier and less painful. I don't see how
a "reference point" fits in here. Everyone is different, with different
values and different actions. It would seem to be almost impossible to
come up with a reference point useful to more than just a few people. But,
perhaps, you are suggesting role models, or something similar. And I agree
that role models are important and useful. Although role models may help
people along their ecopath, it may not be sufficient to help people see
their true values as opposed to their stated values. One can still tell
themselves with little introspection that they are doing the same thing as
a given role model whether they actually are or not. We may need a wide
variety of tools to help us refine our own ethics. I feel there is a lack
of well understood useful tools in this field.
Again, I would really like to hear from others reading this about what
things, ideas, events, people, actions, etc. have helped you move toward
your own ecopath. Maybe we can all learn something by seeing the types of
things that help encourage a more sustainable choice of lifestyle and
thinking.
Eric:
