The Green Family: All right, Ms. Smartypants, what am I supposed to do then?

I've said before that learning how to do this environmentalism thing is kind of like running a marathon. On one hand, you don't want to go out and try to run 26 miles tomorrow; you'll only end up in the hospital. On the other, if you let the idea of running 26 miles someday scare you off, you'll probably spend tomorrow sitting on the couch, and that will put you in the hospital one day too. And if you had three hands, you might also consider that if you spent all your time strolling around the block, then tried to run a marathon, you'd, well, end up in the hospital.

So let's pretend that sometime next year you might like to run the enivronmentalist marathon without ending up in a hospital. How would you do it?

Keep in mind that there are probably about five thousand ways of approaching this; but here's one:

1. Walk Slow: Basic, easy lifestyle changes.

2. Walk Fast: More challenging lifestyle changes.

3. Walk/Run: Lifestyle changes with some education thrown in.

4. Run a 5k: Your environmental house is squeaky clean. Time to think about the big picture.

5. Run a 10k: Looking beyond the newspapers and blogs.

6. Run a half-marathon: Activism only sounds scary until you've done it once.

7. Rest and Regroup: All work and no play makes Jane burn out, and puts her in the hospital.

8. Let's try that half-marathon again: Voting.

9: A twenty-mile run: Beyond voting (whether of the wallet or democratic variety)

10: The marathon: We'll just call you Suzuki.

Not everyone needs to run a marathon. But realistically, everyone in the first world needs to be at least doing a walk/run on a regular basis, if not a 10k, if our planet is going to be in good health for our children. Pretending you want to run a marathon next year gives you about a month to practice each step, find a good groove before adding more on, and not settle for less than you are capable of because a marathon sounds too intimidating. So what I'll do is write a post or two for each step--assuming enough of you are interested in my opinions on this subject--and you can ignore them all, but you'll know what's involved in really making a difference.

We're going to use The Ecological Footprint Calculator, but keep in mind that it is a very broad and imprecise tool. There used to be a more detailed one out there but I can't find it anymore. In any case, take it with a grain of salt; we'll aim to chop our footprints down to about half of the average Canadians (from 8.8 to 4.4) over the course of four months, then start to look at the big picture.

Walking is a whole lot better than nothing. It's just not enough.

Posted by Andrea at September 20, 2007 10:12 AM under The Green Family

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