175_A Green Foot Forward: Overcoming the Roadblocks to Sustainable Living Part I

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 175

A Green Foot Forward: Overcoming the Roadblocks to Sustainable Living

If you happen to have in-depth training or knowledge in a particular area it is easy to forget that many others do not have that same expertise. For example, the knowledge I have about the care of animals is second nature to me. Sometimes I forget there are many people who just do not understand the basics. 

But the same holds true when it comes to sustainable living. Such a lifestyle is second nature to me. Yet I see so many people who are interested but do not take the first step. Why is that?  To answer that question I decided to focus the next few episodes on the barriers and roadblocks to leading a sustainable life and how to overcome them. So join me for E 175 The Barriers and Roadblocks to Sustainable Living Part One.

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E175 The Barriers and Roadblocks to Sustainable Living Part One. 

Sustainability Question of the Week

What is the one thing that prevents you from living a more sustainable life? 

Good News Story of the Week

This week’s good news story comes from Chile and involves discoveries made while mapping previously unexplored areas on the ocean floor. 

The California based non-profit organization, called the Schmidt Ocean Institute,  spent time mapping the Salas y Gomez ridge, which is 2900 kilometers long (1800 miles). It extends off the coast of Chile to Easter Island and is comprised of over 200 underwater mountains some of which tower up to 3,500 meters. 

The team used a remote controlled underwater robot to investigate the marine life on the sea floor at depths of up to 4,500 meters. 

What they discovered is that each mountain hosted a vast array of distinct ecosystems. They discovered more than 100 new species many of which looked rather alien. These discoveries included many never before seen species including corals, spongers, sea urchins, amphipods and lobsters. 

The purpose of their expedition was to map 20,000 square miles (52,777 sq. km) in order to identify vulnerable species and collect data to support a designated international high-seas marine protected area. The purpose of this protected area is to save it from mining companies looking for natural minerals. 

Full species identification is expected to take several years. The institute’s next project is to explore the waters off the coast of Peru. 

Being a scuba diver, It truly is one of my favorite things to read stories such as this about the ocean. It truly is a whole different world much of which few people ever see. So, this week’s round of applause goes to the Schmidt Ocean Institute for working to save our oceans. 

Now let’s move on to this weeks episode.  

You know, I have been fortunate enough to be able to pursue several interests in my life for long enough that I could perhaps be viewed as an expert. Although I do not perceive myself in that way, I do know enough about a couple of different fields that I spend time teaching others. 

But when it comes down to day-to-day life if you happen to have in-depth training or knowledge in a particular area it is easy to forget that many others do not have that same expertise. If you have ever tried to read a scientific article published by a PhD that is 15 years into the career you will get an appreciation for what I mean. Whenever I read such things I think to myself “English please, English.” 

But despite my in-depth knowledge of certain topics, there are things in my life that keep my feet on planet Earth. 

For example, I have spent my entire life working with animals. Then I chose to go to veterinary school and I have now been practicing for over 25 years. Even now it always surprises me when I meet clients who are in their 30s and 40s and have a dog for the first time in their life. And of course they have lots of questions so I have to get back to the basics. 

I experience the same sort of thing when it comes to scuba diving. After years of practice and training many aspects of diving are second nature to me. But I often work with students who are incredibly fearful of putting on a mask and breathing underwater because it’s just not natural. A small percentage of these students never even make it past their emotional barriers and are thus unable to finish the class. But it is working with these students that keeps me grounded because I have to get back to the basics. 

I often see the same type of thing when it comes to living sustainably. Starting with the family farm,  right up to buying the cabin property, living off-grid, being self sufficient and living sustainably for me have literally been a life-long pursuit. It is such a normal part of my life that I sometimes forget that so many other people are just not in the same frame of mind. Routinely I speak with people that are astounded at how and where I live and all the different things I do. 

Just recently I had a good laugh over something a colleague said to me. But you have to understand the source. The hospital where we work often buys the staff convenience foods because we are so busy and someone always ends up working through lunch.  My colleague often takes advantage of the instant Cup-of-Noodles.  By the end of the day there are 3 or 4 styrofoam cups in the trash can near his desk. 

He made the comment to me last week that I always brought very interesting food to work. And he is always wants to know what it is. I just looked at him one day and said, “It’s called homemade food.”

But I do tend to forget that so much of what I do is now routine. While it may be routine for most people to pop something into the microwave, I don’t even own a microwave. I do of course own a stove and oven but if I am running the wood stove it is not unusual for me to put a potato in a small Dutch oven and use the wood stove to bake it. I also routinely cook on top of the wood stove. We heat the cabin 6 to 7 months of the year with the wood stove and using that resource dramatically reduces our use of propane. 

We routinely make our own bread, muffins, cookies, tortillas, various types of burritos, can our own food, grow our own vegetables and herbs, purify our own water, stay well stocked on the basics and even make hard cider and mead. All of these things are simply a way of life. It is as routine as taking a shower and brushing my teeth. 

Just recently I was talking with an expert in sustainable development and how his business focuses on building net-zero homes. This simply means that the homes produce just as much energy as they use. I was explaining that at the homestead we have a very comfortable life yet we use drastically fewer resources than the average home. He said that is the exact concept that he promotes. Yet few people take the time and effort to live that way. We of course had a discussion about all the reasons why few people take that first step. 

This is the type of thing I often wonder about. As it turns out there are lots of other people that wonder the same thing. In fact one organization conducted an extensive survey across multiple cultures and age groups in 25 different countries that included 25,000 people. This research shows that many people are very interested in leading healthy and sustainable lives. However there is a broad gap between intent and action.

The study revealed that 54 percent of people said that having a lifestyle that is good for themselves, good for others and easier on the environment is a major priority for them. However only 37 percent said that they “mostly” lived that way now. 

This same study confirmed that the vast majority of people are increasingly concerned about the environment. People mostly expressed concern about environmental and air pollution, climate changes, shortages of fresh water and biodiversity loss. The study also showed that younger people are feeling the most anxiety about the negative environmental impacts. Yet it is this same age group, that being aged 18 to 24,  that displayed the larger gap between intended and current lifestyle.  

Additionally, these studies and surveys have shown that there are very specific barriers for people living a more sustainable and heather life and some of those barriers simply involve a lack of knowledge. But what I want to discuss in the next few episodes is the common barriers and roadblocks to sustainable living and how to overcome them.

Now there is an entire list of barriers that people commonly site as the reason for not living a healthier more sustainably lifestyle. It is going to take a couple of episodes to cover all of these topics. In this episode I simply want to deal with only two of those barriers: 

The first two barriers: 

1)Preference for their existing lifestyle

2)Time

To some degree much of what we do day-to-day is simply a matter of habit. Our every day lives are filled with routines and ingrained behaviors. It is our daily routine that also give us some sense of comfort and personal security. If you have ever made dramatic changes in your life such as moving cross country or moving to another country you have some sort of appreciation for what it is like to have your entire life disrupted and the effort it takes to learn how to function in a completely new place. At any rate, our daily routines and way of life give us some sense of security. Consequently most people are resistant to change. 

So, let’s take a moment and look at the existing lifestyle of the average person which is purely the result of a consumer driven culture.  In this type of culture consumerism is an economic and social ideology that promotes consumption and the acquisition of goods and services far beyond our basic needs. In this type of culture people are often deluded into thinking that their personal well being is based on the purchase of material goods. 

In this type of economy there is a never ending cycle of people purchasing goods and services. Consequently, production and employment increases. The general standard of living tends to improve. All of this of course drives even more consumption of goods and services. Another positive aspect of consumerism is that it also drives innovation and creativity. 

Consumers tend to always look for the next best product. And manufacturers are constantly under   pressure to come up with new innovations. For consumers this equates to an overall better standard of living. We get so caught up in our over consumption that we forget  there is also a downside. 

The constant consumption of goods and services puts increased pressure on natural resources, such as raw materials, water and energy. Additionally, the constant production of goods demands the use of chemicals that of course pollute the environment. 

What about the level of consumer debt? 

Sooner or later people begin to borrow money in order to finance their lifestyles and the continued purchase of goods that may or may not produce any added value in their life. And then what we see is the detrimental effects on a person's morals and even perhaps mental health problems. 

Consumerism also causes people to focus on materialism instead of integrity. People want to buy more than they need in order to look good for other people. The end result is an increased debt load, which of course brings more stress and depression. It also affects relationships since many studies have proven that materialism does not produce long lasting value in someone's life. 

In summary, consumerism obviously has benefits such as economic growth and promoting innovation and creativity. However, consumerism is beneficial only as long as it deals with the persons basically needs such as food, water, shelter and clothing, etc. 

To this extent consumerism can elevate someone's happiness. But in the long run it truly becomes a slippery slope. People tend to spend more money in order to keep up with the latest trends. And then of course they work more and more to maintain that lifestyle. And before you know it good by personal freedom, good by family vacation. Good by savings account for any sort of emergency. So I want to ask you, does this really sound like the good life. 

I often wonder if we would actually be better off if we had fewer choices? As it turns out some studies have shown that to be the case. 

So whether you like it or not sometimes living a simpler life and being sustainable may actually make you happier and healthier but it may also mean doing without certain things. Allow me to give you a perfectly valid example.

There were two working farms in my family. I had one brother and two sisters and it was common for us to spend a lot of time on one or both of the  farms. A lot of our meat for the year, as well as other things, came from those farms. When not in school we were often helping our grandparents work the farm while our parents were at the day job earning the money that provided for our other needs.

Looking back, I never really thought of us as being poor. In fact it never even occurred to me. We had all that we needed to live a comfortable life and we never actually did without anything.

We spent our time raising animals, working in the garden, hunting, fishing, picking fruits and nuts from the trees on the farm, as well as canning and freezing our surplus foods. While most people these days would think “that sounds like a lot of work” we still had plenty of spare time for play, leisure walks in the woods, or simply sitting on the creek bank fishing.  

It was a time when no one had a cell phone, a computer, an iPad, or a wall mounted flat screen TV. Most people did not even have a phone. If you needed to talk to them, you simply drove to their house. It was also a time when we were able to provide ourselves with much of what we needed to live. In many respects, we were self sufficient. We just never really talked about it because it was simply the way we lived.

But, we now live in a much different world. Initially self sufficiency was a matter of providing your own food, shelter, tools, and whatever else was needed just to survive. You could not really eliminate anything because all of what you had was exactly what you needed. 

But these days the opposite is true. Much of what we need to “survive” so to speak, in our modern world, such as light bulbs, cell phones, computers, vehicles and the gasoline to run them, is impossible for the individual to make. So instead of depending on ourselves we depend on a vast interconnected infrastructure that we cannot possibly understand or control.  

While the average person can no longer make many of the things needed to survive in our modern world, most of us could actually get rid of more than half of our stuff and still live in luxury.

Because we are so accustomed to this lifestyle we overlook the fact that the average person in a developing country has more than ten times the environment impact than that of someone in India or China. Many, many people in the world do not have the choices that we do.

Sometimes I think part of the problem is that we have far too many choices. Do we really need to have 40 different choices of potato chips? Do we really need 100 different choices between foods to feed our pets? Do manufacturers really need to produce a new model of car, truck or SUV every single year? 

My experience in living abroad is that more often than not when you go to the local supermarket they have extremely limited choices for any given product. Most of the time that was limited to two or three things. It sort of reminded me of the mother’s menu when I was a kid. You literally had two choices, take it or leave it. You had to eat and savor what was available or not eat at all. 

Often times I think people have the perception that living sustainably means they will have fewer choices. Now to some extent, there is some truth to this. Go into any shop and you will find few choices between sustainable produced products and numerous choices for the highly wasteful and unhealthy things we are accustomed to having available. Duly noted. 

Now it is interesting to note, and this is going to sound counterintuitive, studies have shown that having fewer choices actually promotes happiness. This is because the more options people have the more opportunity you have to regret the choice you made. 

A study out of the University of Minnesota showed that having more shopping choices interfered with the ability to pay attention and complete simple arithmetic problems. Even when you are faced with something emotionally challenging, you are better off having fewer choices. As it turns out limited choices may actually help you to focus and be happier with the decisions you make.  

So I would like to propose the idea that in many ways the new self sufficiency is simply doing without. That is, doing without all the excess and having fewer things.   

On that note, let me say that about 10 years ago I started on a journey to downsize and simplify my life. It took me about 5 years to make any significant progress but I stuck with my plan. I had two mortgages, vehicle payments, credit card debt, business debt and was working an average of 70 to 80 hours per week. In five years I sold the second home, paid off my land mortgage, donated 75% of my personal possessions to charity, and went from $295K worth of debt to zero. 

Did that hurt? Absolutely. Did I have to make some difficult choices? Yes I did. I lost about $10K on the sale of my second home. But the pay back is was that I was then completely debt free and I was able to make that money back in less than 6 months. 

The result of all of this is that I am now at the point where I work 3 days a week and take several months a year off. I am not retired but in many respects I do what I want. It is only because I made my life as simple as possible and got rid of 75% of my personal possessions. 

In the end my life and lifestyle is much simpler, richer, and almost totally absent of any clutter. Just ask me if I feel as if I am doing without or perhaps missing something in my life.  My answer would be a resounding NO, absolutely NOT!! 

The more things you have the more responsibility you have and the more money you spend to support that lifestyle. It limits you personal freedom, causes more stress and does not lead to a happy and fulfilled life. I know it sounds counterintuitive. But I do know from personal experience that having fewer things does make you happier. 

Sustainable living takes too much effort and too much time. 

The next thing I want to discuss is that many people believe that sustainable living takes way too much time and effort. This alone prevents a lot of people from taking the necessary steps to change their lifestyle. But I would contend that it is the very lifestyle that most people have that limits their time not the time it takes to be sustainable. 

But we are also addicted to convenience. We want to order something and have it on our doorstep the next day. We want to walk into the supermarket and pick out exactly what we want when we want it. We don’t have the time to stand around and read product labels. We just want to get home as soon as we can and put the frozen pizza in the oven. 

Now I will admit that it does take time to research products and companies to determine if they actually engage in sustainable practices. It does take time and effort to determine if any particular product is actually sustainably sourced and manufactured. Point taken. 

But the thing of it is, you can make up any kind of sustainable lifestyle that you choose. There are many things you can seamlessly fit into your lifestyle without making any significant effort. For example, taking reusable shopping bags to the supermarket, occasionally purchasing an alternative source of meat to put on the grill, always taking a reusable cup or mug wherever you go. It just requires you to think a little more about what you are doing and why. 

About a year ago I made it my personal goal on a monthly basis to add one more sustainable habit to my life or find yet another product that I could either make at home or find an alternative that was more sustainable.  And yes this does take some time and effort. But surely we all have enough spare time to do that once a month.  The result is that over time you end up with a list of sustainable favorites and you no longer have to think very much about which product to purchase.

In the end, it is truly a matter of your attitude. Most of us are addicted to convenience and would rather have someone else do things for us. But at the end of the day, sustainability is about taking responsibility for everything you choose to do and everything you choose not to do. But over time this often means that you have much greater control over your own resources. 

Consequently, when something goes wrong in the world, there is a war, an economic disaster, a natural disaster, or supply chain disruption, you can rest comfortably in the fact that you have all that you need. All you have to do is put in the time and effort to learn how to make things at home from a few basic ingredients that are easily sourced. Plan ahead and store a little extra so that when something goes wrong in the world it has little impact on your life. 

Furthermore, it is incredibly easy to take a couple of hours on the weekend to do a little cooking. For example, we commonly make a huge batch of burritos and freeze them. Or we cook a large pot of soup and freeze that in small portions. When we have a busy week these things become our convenience foods all it takes is a little forethought and planning. 

I truly believe that the problem does not rest in the fact that sustainability takes too much time and effort. The problem is that our unsustainable lives drain of us our time, strap us with financial responsibility, and limit our personal freedom. Once you experience true simplicity you will know exactly what I mean. So, simplify your life as much as possible and you will have as much time as you need to make up whatever life you want. 

Summary

Now in summary we have talked about two of the barriers for people living a more sustainable life. 

1)Preference for their existing lifestyle

2)Time

I hope you realize by now that our existing lifestyle of over consumption is truly not sustainable. Maybe being sustainable does means have fewer choices. But limited choices means less consumption, less waste and a greener planet. Although you may have strong preferences for your existing lifestyle, just remember there may come a time when you have to change what you are doing because you no longer have a choice. So why not make some of those changes while you can still choose.

The other objection people often have is that being sustainable takes too much time and effort. But, as you can plainly see from my personal example above that simplifying my life in the end gave me so much more time. I too made the mistake that most people make, the pursuit of more personal possessions and money. Once I got rid of all of it, I now have more personal time that I ever thought possible. 

In closing folks I hope you will join me again next week where I am going to continue to discuss some of the barriers and roadblocks to living a more sustainable life. Keep in mind that our future on this planet has not yet been decided. While I believe we are past the point of easy, we do still have choices. And for those of us who live in a developed country it truly is a privilege to live within our personal values. But unless we change what we are doing, there is going to come a time when we no longer have those choices. We truly have to be committed to the idea of living sustainably. If we only believe in that idea we will just sit back and do what is necessary. If we are committed to that idea then we will do what it takes. 

For this coming week I want you to think about the sustainability question of the week. What is the one thing that prevents you from living a more sustainable life? And then put one green foot forward at a time and change on small thing. 

Until next week, this is your host Patrick signing off. Always remember to live sustainably because this is how we build a better future. 

Patrick

Additional Resources

Challenges to Cultivating Eco-Friendly Habits at Home

Barriers to Sustainability

How to Overcome the Barriers to Sustainable Living

Sustainability Struggles: Top 10 Barriers to Being Green Revealed

High Cost and Lack of Support are Key Barriers to More Healthy and Sustainable Living