Accepting Change
When I was born the world’s population was about 2 billion people. Back then, tea came loose in one-pound rectangular paper sacks. There was only one kind, black, and perhaps three separate brands. You brewed your tea in a teapot.
Today the global population is around 8 billion going on 10, while a dizzying variety of brands, flavors, cans, and bottled teas occupy one-half of a supermarket aisle. The rest of the aisle side has bottled or canned water. What similar previously inconceivable products will the next 80 years deliver?
Accepting Our Culture
Most of us enjoy our industrial consumer culture. That soon-to-be-delivered package from Amazon is fun and exciting, while our growing population, product arrays, and purchases accelerate climate change.
Countering this expanding consumerism is a growing awareness of what might slow down man-made planetary changes. Chinese consumers, the world’s largest buyer group, choose mostly electric cars. The United States is moving that way, but without the autocratic, command-and-control of Chinese leaders, our changes will be slower.
It’s also slower in the US because climate change is not an attention grabber. What occupies most Americans are the media’s hot-button issues, the economy, conflicting (religious?) beliefs, immigration, the budget, our involvement in overseas wars, and national political battles.
Accepting Our Nature
Adding to that confounding social mix is the complex psychology of human nature. We are highly combative, territorial, adversarial, fearful, suspicious and paranoid, self-centered, and resistant to change. We are also loving, caring, empathetic, creative, imaginative, frequently in denial, and eternally hopeful. That remarkable combination of traits makes our so-far successful experiment with the fragile consensus of democracy quite remarkable. Let’s hope that the experiment survives the current attacks.
Accepting Our Limits
For me, I’m working on accepting and accommodating our complex nature and seemingly endless consumerism. Abraham Lincoln said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” I’ve decided that being happy is better than not. So I’m not making myself anxious about our current inability to thoughtfully and peacefully discuss issues, develop united national policies, or act effectively on pressing problems.
Accepting Our Power
Although our personal actions may feel insignificant (like our individual votes), there is a growing consciousness of who we are and what we can do to help ourselves and our planet. This is a good thing because that’s how cultures change, first with awareness and then with people taking small, united steps in the right direction, which for the planet means greater sustainability. As individuals, we are not alone. Our collective actions, like our combined votes, can be notably effective.
Accepting Our Aging
Surveys consistently report that for many people, age brings relief from many of life’s worries. Having watched so many “This-is-the-end-of-the-planet” issues come and go, my finger is off the panic button. I don’t pretend there aren’t major issues, that’s part of the human condition. It’s that I trust future generations to resolve them one way or the other, and that worrying, instead of doing my small constructive part, won’t help.
My small part includes recycling, easing up on the gas pedal, practicing “green”, talking up sustainability, volunteering, staying healthy, loving my friends and family, seeing the many sides of every issue, and avoiding that national pastime, arguing.
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As the new year begins, I feel I’ve run out of things to talk about. These bimonthly and monthly blog posts have led me on a remarkably successful journey, bringing a level of peace and satisfaction I didn’t anticipate.
May this new year bring you joy and contentment.
Thank you for reading.
Barry
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