Lisa wrote:
>I am interested in a sustainable lifestyle but don't do much myself. The way
>it works in my house is that I earn the living and my SO gets to pursue
>his/our interests and put the time into the things that don't bring in any
>money.
Hi Lisa, enjoyed reading about your activities. Your descriptions
triggered thoughts about the balance between survival and social
activism. Also about ways to categorize social activism. I don't
think there are any right/wrong questions here, it is more a question
of what fits individual personalities and local conditions.
I've started categorizing social change into three areas: Encouraging
others to change, changing ourself, and joining together to form
eco communities. This has helped me check for balance in my own
activities and seems useful. It has clearly shown i have a strong
bias towards the "change yourself" category. The SO is more
oriented towards forming community. My theory is that we are
helping ourself as much as the earth and future generations. Our
individual preferences are just reflections of what we enjoy
doing. Anyway, here are some David Edwards quotes on this topic:
Once you realize that helping others is also helping
yourself, the size of the problem become irrelevant. You
help simply because it does good and feels good. (There
are studies that show caring for others has measurable
physical and mental health benefits)
there is a certain joy in telling the truth.
In a world where people all around us are lying and confusing
us, to be honest is a great kindness.
jeff
