Rogat+-+Imagining+Change

Michelle Rogat Imagining Change

__**The Problem:**__ The resistance to sustainability in society and the need to analyze the failures of "going green" to learn from mistakes and hopefully move along the sustainability movement.

__**What changes would help to solve this problem?**__


 * Changes in policy (local, national, or international):** setting goals for organizations, governments, businesses; setting goals for society as a whole to meet and then implementing ways to measure the progress to those goals and reinforcing the importance of meeting these goals; such as lowering carbon emissions, reducing waste, implementing recycling on a large scale like with industrial ecology.... and not just setting these goals and leaving people to it, but provide guidance and help to reach these goals


 * Changes in the legal system:** maybe creating a legal authoritative body like there is for water use in some areas that measure the progress and failures of initiatives like using less water; making certain laws that require mandates for the hospitality industry to have to follow; looking at our legal system as what it is - an ever changing set of rules we make for our own society, and not this idea of law being a power and permanent thing meant to be followed


 * Changes in the media:** getting rid of the stereotypical image of the "treehugger" or the hysterical crying woman that "feels for the Earth" and instead promoting and revealing the true actors in the sustainability and environmental movements which are the educators, the students and their clubs, certain consulting businesses, parents who are just concerned about the livelihood of their children, nature enthusiasts, hikers, etc. Show how these people aren't really different tan the rest of us because they are us; everyone has a reason to be invested in the care of the environment. The stereotypical images can actually be doing harm to the environmental cause because people shy away from those they consider to be radical, illogical, or crazy. To paint that picture for the movement would scare a lot of potential actors away.


 * Changes in the way political decisions are made:** Politicians shouldn't just consult the "experts", but should also listen for advice from the people who are 'in the trenches" of sustainability initiatives because they could provide the practical insight that the experts in a lab would not be able to. Making sure that your constituents are informed on an issue before listening to what they want, because a lot of the time they might want the thing that is better for the environment in the long haul if they better understood a situation. Having an informed society is key in democracies and our country should really focus on that in general!


 * Changes in the ways organizations function:** Businesses shouldn't just be concerned with making a profit, they should also be concerned for the economy that they are in, the people that they service, and the environment they effect. The goal of the economy shouldn't be to maximize profits, but to ensure the most wealth and happiness for its society. Yeah that includes money, but it also includes things like how happy and healthy people are and the environment in which they live, how they are able to spend their day. Society should refocus their obsession with money back to what they wanted to use money to begin with, which is providing a means of living and being happy.


 * Changes in the educational system:** Our high schools should teach our society as children how to live sustainably and make the right decisions surrounding the environment by being an example to follow. If children go to school learning that you don't need lights on when you have sun shining through the windows, that even though you get old enough to drive a car you should still take the bus to school, that the food they don't finish at lunch gets scraped into a separate barrel and their trays don't go in the garbage but put in a pile to get washed in an energy efficient washer and used again...; schools could lead and show other establishments and teach children early on how to live sustainably and would set a precedent for those habits to continue to grow through adulthood. In schools and colleges I believe it shouldn't be allowed for professors to teach that climate change is a conspiracy, which I have been told a few times in high school and in college. This just flat out should not be allowed, it is wrong information and adds to the confusion and distrust in science.


 * Changes in the way people behave:** This could be the most difficult hurdle to the sustainability movement, the changing of people's habits and behavior. People resist change, even for the better. I suggest the best way to help people change their behavior is explain what they are impacting and putting it all in context. I feel education is a big part of the equation. In order to speed up the process or give people incentive you could provide rewards, make it a competition (which is a good idea on an international scale if you think back to the race to the moon), and give penalties or such to dissuade the older, bad practices.


 * Changes in the way people think**: Showing results? Maybe it is too hard to change the way everyone thinks, but maybe look at things from their perspective and explain how doing good for the environment is in their advantage, they just don't see it. So show them. To really change the way everyone thinks or does something it would be best to focus on the biggest leverage, like within a country club it would be the management and dept heads, affecting outside of the country club it would be a bigger leverage to focus on the members that own a company and such so that they might want to implement sustainability in their own lives.


 * Changes in the way technology is designed and used:** Technology should be designed with more than just the function in mind, but the designing process should also consider the implications on its environment, if its affecting social roles, what went in to making this technology, the scope to which it might become used, and more. Technology should improve efficiency and quality of life, it shouldn't be harmful or damaging.


 * Changes in the way money is spent:** Money should be spent to reinvest in bettering things for the future and for enjoying life and creating lasting moments that are worthwhile, it shouldn't be spent to wasteful things that will be used for a day and thrown out. The economy should be more focused on improving the quality of life, not on increasing profits, especially when it seems to be at society's expense.