The environmental movement is sometimes criticized for its fear tactics.
If we don't do something now, there will be no earth to live on, no air to breathe, no water to drink.
The primary instinct when a person hears bad news like this is to freeze up, like a deer.
We hear something that sounds overwhelming or catastrophic and we find it hard to know how to react.
Some people ignore the news, others come up with alternative explanations to deny the news and some want to act, but how? Telling us we are polluting the waterways to such an extent that it now carries chemicals that can't be removed by filtering it, like the hormones in birth control, is pretty scary.
Thinking you might get lung cancer from breathing the air around you is really scary.
But what if instead of bombarding us with overwhelming facts, environmental organizations gave you a few simple solutions that could help reverse or repair the problem.
For example, what can I do on a daily basis that will help change the damage to the earth? Before we come up with an answer, there are a few criteria that need to be addressed.
For anything to be successful among a large population a solution needs to be: • Easy to enact • Convenient • Fast (taking only a few minutes or less a day) While people want to help create positive change, it's not going to happen unless making change is easier than making a problem.
Recycling is a perfect example.
When there used to be recycling centers where you had to take your cans and bottles and sort them for a monetary reward, some people did, but most people didn't.
They didn't have time, they didn't know where to go and on and on.
But when recycling bins came out and recyclable materials were picked up from your home, then a lot more people participated.
So what can we do to find solutions to some of the major problems we're facing? Let's take air pollution.
Here are two simple solutions: • Run all your errands at once to save on gas and save on emissions in the air.
• Substitute chicken or fish or pasta for red meat at least once a week, if not more.
Cows are a huge source of methane gas in the environment.
What we need are more companies offering solutions that may seem like they are small scale, but add up to large-scale differences in the environment.
We need people with influence, such as celebrities and politicians to set an example.
And we need more people coming up with solution based marketing instead of fear-based marketing.
If you have any solutions, let me know!