3 reasons for low-footprint living

To my usual longtime two motivations for trying to make green choices, a third has been added.

The first two reasons:

1) To reduce carbon footprint and stop using more than my share of the world’s resources. Even if my reductions are just one person’s worth — a tiny drop in the ocean — it’s still something.

2) Beyond just the numeric value of the reduction, is the fact that my choices can help normalize and popularize resource-consciousness and care of all species and all people. And help de-normalize and de-popularize the hyperconsumerist, me-centric norms of mainstream culture.

And then just recently, I noticed I have a third motivation!

3) To make the world I want to see. Even if it’s just my tiny corner of the world, I can create a little pocket of reality where it’s not weird or abnormal to get around mainly by walking; where it’s normal to have a yard full of native plants and other eco-friendly features; where it’s normal to go to great lengths to avoid bottled water and single-use plastic bags; where it’s normal to care about insects and other nonhuman creatures as well as fellow humans. Where it’s normal to create a little corner of my yard where the public is invited to sit. The little pockets of reality I create (and you do as well), might be considered a micro-subculture. This micro-subculture can potentially grow (if other people see and choose to replicate it in their own little corners of the world). And in the meantime, the little pockets of “world I want to see” that I create are great places to rest and recharge so I can stay energized and encouraged to do my work in the wider world.