A New Kind of Intelligence
June 29th, 2009I have started reading Ecological Intelligence by Daniel Goleman; his message is one of encouraging absolute transparency and (finally) taking responsibility for our actions. He writes, in a section entitled “Vital Lies, Simple Truths,” “we endorse the vital lie what we don’t know or can’t see does not matter….and recycling can feed our self-deception by creating a momentary green bubble that offers the illusion that our individual efforts are solving the problem.” Don’t get me (us?) wrong, I truly believe that individual efforts can make a difference (because without the individuals, there is never a collective), however his point is that by putting an emphasis on recycling—and only recycling—it “lulls us into the illusion that we are doing enough, while ignoring the remaining adverse impacts of what we buy and do.”
It really is about raising your consciousness, taking the environment into consideration in your choices, and recognizing that everything is interconnected and derived from nature in some way or another. That is what Goleman calls “ecological intelligence…only such an all-encompassing sensibility can let us see the interconnections between our actions and their hidden impacts on the planet, our health, and our social systems.”
So what can you do in addition to recycling? Add reducing and reusing (remember, there are 3 Rs) into the mix:
- Educate yourself before you buy. Much like you would read a nutrition label, examine the products you purchase. Look for things with minimal packaging and avoid individually wrapped items.
- Choose durable and reusable things such as cloth napkins over single-use, disposable items such as paper napkins.
- Reuse bags, containers, boxes, paper—and whatever else you can think of!
- Continue to learn and ask how you can change your habits to be more environmentally friendly.
























