Critical Thinking
In best traditions of the below post I have to start with a disclaimer that all said here today is based on my own personal observations and my objective is to trigger a constructive discussion. Generally, this post contains more questions marks than dots, hence please, you are welcomed to answer, challenge and share!
Around a year ago I enrolled into the Executive MSt degree programme in Sustainability leadership. Naturally my exposure to the topic increased and I started having discussions on sustainability related subjects almost on a daily basis. I must admit most of the people I happened to speak to did not have a professional or academic background and their understanding of sustainability related matters was mostly based on broader media coverage and their own personal experiences. Sometimes these opinions were more educated, sometimes less, at times they were driven by pure emotions, however 90% of the opinions were extreme… Extreme and contradictory…
“We all have to go vegan” — “agriculture leads to deforestation and biodiversity loss”
“Stop buying synthetic fabrics, they are made from hydrocarbons and chemicals” — “stop buying natural fabrics, they are resource wasteful, difficult to recycle and are not good for animal welfare”
“Stop using conventional cars, they are polluting!” — “electric cars are linked to inhumane and socially irresponsible mining!”
“Stop using straws!”… and “put on your disposable mask!”
“Stop eating, drinking, driving, walking, speaking, thinking! But I want you to be yourself and feel empowered!”
Ultimately, I concluded that somehow along the way, the important subject of sustainability has moved from a common concern about universal wellbeing into a politically charged marketing tool fuelling societal polarisation (“He believes in climate change — he must be a Democrat!”).
First rule of etiquette: don’t talk religion, politics, money and… sustainability…
So, where did it go wrong? Why did we lose our focus on the root cause of the problem and started being so critical about things? Shouldn’t a global problem unite people instead of putting them on different sides? And is it about sustainability at all? Probably it is just one of the symptoms of the overall poor social health that makes our perception inflamed and unconditional… And if so, why doesn’t the general public link sustainability concepts to possible solutions of the social issues?
It is true that despite an abundance of literature and research very few people outside of our professional sustainability bubble have an unbiased view on what sustainability is about. In most cases it is merely blurred knowledge backed by one or two lazy googling attempts. No wonder that sustainability illiteracy creates extreme judgement, as gaps in knowledge are filled with information from popular social media accounts that carry at times extreme opinions of the owners… It seems that accessibility and abundance of “fast information” made us believe that one can be an expert with a strong opinion on the topic after reading Wikipedia…
Convinced by our knowledge of everything and empowered by our ability to surf the internet, we take pride from “knowing everything for sure!” and get irritated when our opinion is challenged. Mental blocking and the assumption that our opponent is “not very smart, because I know it better” stop us from listening and opening ourselves up to the fact that one aspect could be seen from different perspectives due to the life circumstances of the person. No wonder that in most of cases such discussions end up with refusal and denial.
Reflecting on the sustainability leadership, I somehow come back all the time to the thought that prior to discussing sustainability, we should revisit the basics. Before empowering and influencing we should learn how to listen, respect and accept. Shouldn’t we make the words “MODERATION” and “RESPECT” — the words of the century?
Moderate and respectful views and moderate and respectful consumption sounds very sustainable to me…
One Russian eco-blogger once mentioned: “I don’t expect everyone to become an eco-frenzy or to adopt my lifestyle, but I will be happy if everyone could be as eco-friendly as possible within their realm. All I’m trying to do is to show that certain habits are much easier to adopt than people think, that eco-lifestyle could [potentially] improve your mental and physical health. Planet’s health will follow”. This approach seemed to me much more effective than approach based on apocalyptic fear commonly used by most of mainstream media accounts. Just because it introduces voluntary change that is much more durable.
And probably our critical thinking should be a bit less “critical” and a bit more “thinking”?