Do Nothing To Save The World

Paying attention is exhausting. If you follow the news, read books and scientific studies, listen to podcasts, and generally look out your window, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed, saddened, outraged, and helpless.

Some of this is intentional. Distracted, helpless-feeling people become indifferent. Caring takes too much energy. When we switch off to preserve what little energy and sanity we have left, it allows those with power to do whatever they want with much less resistance.

This becomes a vicious cycle. The actions of the powerful (and any human, really) as a rule are motivated by self-interest rather than altruism, so the results of those actions usually make the world a worse place for the majority of us. That gives us more reason for outrage and sadness… which, when added to an already full slate of disasters, ironically gives us more reason to shut ourselves down as we feel spiritual fatigue and distraction paralysis from being inundated by negativity.

I feel fatigue just writing about this, so I’m guessing you feel the same reading it.

But wait… there’s some really good news!

Some of the most important things you can do to benefit the environment, as well as your own health and the health of everyone on earth, require that you do LESS.

That’s right, you can actually help the environment by eliminating things from your to-do list and building your stores of personal energy.

Saving the world can leave you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated!

As it turns out, many of the issues we face in the 21st century result from a culture of constantly wanting more. We have sped up nearly every aspect of our culture because of this. We eat, read, drive, and work faster than we ever have in history. We also sleep less than we ever have.

Yet our health and our life spans are declining, evidence that the faster the rats run the sooner the race is over. Maybe we should consider slowing down.

Here are ways that you can expend less energy, even increase your energy, while solving some of the world’s biggest problems:

1.      Sleep more.

When you sleep, you aren’t driving, eating, working, consuming media or in many other ways consuming resources and releasing carbon into the atmosphere. When you sleep you are healing your body and mind.

There are some interesting statistics about sleep. First, there is a huge correlation between less sleep and health issues and shortened lives. Secondly, corporations have done some studies and found that lack of sleep is costing business hundreds of millions, even billions, of dollars annually in lost productivity.

On the flip side, there’s a statistic that if Americans all increased their nightly sleep time by 1 hour, the economy would implode. In other words, we’ve grown our system to be dependent on consumption to the detriment of health and well-being.

So… sleep more and defund industrial capitalism.

Maybe we don’t want the economy to implode. But maybe we want to send a message that it’s time for a change. How about 45 minutes extra sleep each day? That’s a nice after-lunch nap.

Siesta anyone?

2.      Stop taking care of 10% of your yard.

I know not everyone has a yard, but if you do you have an enormous potential to benefit the environment by selecting a section of your yard and… doing nothing to it.

Don’t mow it. Don’t water it. Don’t fertilize it. Don’t spend an ounce of extra energy or resources on it.

Then see what happens.

 The grass will grow, seed, and die. Eventually weeds will grow. Then small shrubs. Someday a tree or two may grow. If you’re in an arid climate you may not get beyond the weed stage in your lifetime. But that’s okay.

Throughout this process of ecological succession, that part of your yard will be sucking carbon out of the atmosphere and sequestering it in the soil. It will provide habitat for insects and small creatures. It will quickly increase to have much more biodiversity than it had as a lawn. It will be a literal nature preserve that you accomplished by doing nothing.

3.      Focus your consumption on quality over quantity.

Do you fantasize about that special bottle of wine? That organic, pastured beef filet? Those succulent and colorful but pricey farmers market local organic veggies? But never buy them because you think, “I could get 5 normal grocery store versions of that for the same price.”

Well, go ahead and buy them… but don’t change your food budget.

The quality of the food you eat and wine you drink will immediately increase, while the quantity decreases. That means you may lose weight and enjoy what you eat and drink more. To me that sounds great.

You can apply this thinking to media as well. To driving. To flights. To work opportunities.

Learning to say “no” to the OK or even the Good, and “yes” to only the Best, reduces the amount of energy and time you use on lower quality experiences. Reducing quantity gives you more resources for quality. Less really is more.

When you consume less, you can consume more thoughtfully. You can take the time to get to know the people and stories behind the products. You can reconnect your life to the context and culture that you fund with your consumption choices. You have more time to be thoughtful about the kind of world you are creating.