Am I Misrepresenting The Steps Required For Societal Change? (Storytelling Part 2)

Thank you to Adrian Lopera-Valle for sending me down this rabbit hole with the question, "How can we better utilize storytelling to encourage circular behavior change?" Welcome to my second ramble-y, inconclusive thought process on this topic. :)


Necessary Disclaimer / Trigger Warning: The below points are being viewed ONLY through the lens of climate impacts. One of the things mentioned below is regarding elective surgeries (specifically cosmetic surgeries). It is important to realize that while this article addresses this in a black-and-white manner, that same reasoning can not be utilized in decision-making.

Soo many elective surgeries - including those performed by plastic surgeons - are necessary for quality of life, or for medical reasons that are simply not included in the definitions utilized by MSP. Examples of this include dental surgeries, nerve ablation, gastric bypass, and breast reconstruction.

"The term elective surgery covers a wide range of operations such as vision correction, hip replacements and plastic surgery. It differs from emergency surgery, such as an appendectomy, in which the patient is at risk of becoming severely ill or dying. Elective surgery simply means that it can be scheduled in advance.

In fact, the word elective does not really fit all surgeries in this category. People who need knee surgery do not “elect” to have it done – they require it to be mobile and participate in basic activities such as walking to the park."

Credit: https://www.olympiabenefits.com/blog/the-type-of-surgery-that-is-not-a-medical-emergency-elective-surgery

If you want to learn more about the impacts surgical procedures have on climate change:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7413763/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9760625/

https://phoenixliposuction.com/blog/ustainable-practices-in-cosmetic-surgery/


Okay. Onward!

I have a friend who has a neighbor who introduces herself as a climate activist. Her participation for the past decade has been largely limited to attending protests. She describes this as a critical value within her self.

  1. She rents 2 residential condos, 1 of which sits empty most of the time. She uses it for work at most 4 times a month, instead of sharing a commercial space.
  2. In the past 2 years, she has owned 6 cats, all of whom have died being hit by cars because she allows them outside. None were spayed or neutered. 2 had litters of kittens themselves.
  3. She has chosen to undergo many cosmetics-based surgeries.
Considerations based on the above:
  1. This person owns 2 of everything. Her extra apartment in furnished.
  2. She may be unfamiliar with how some of us taking more than we need when others are going without is part of what has driven climate change due to the need to over-produce and constantly scale up.
  3. She is not aware, or alternatively does not care, that outdoor domestic cats are an invasive species.
  4. She is comfortable with the idea of things - even living things - being disposable and replaceable with a very quick turn around.
  5. She is unaware of the immense amount of medical waste generated by cosmetics surgeries.

I am a huge advocate of regulation. But when I look at this person as an example of a larger population demographic, I wonder if I - and that mindset - is part of the problem. The point of protests is to push regulators to action. If someone feels something is worth protesting, but not emulating in their personal or work lives, then have we disillusioned people into thinking legislators are the only ones who must undertake behavior change?

Have I neglected to educate people on the personal-level changes that contribute to a decarbonized culture? Have I made people feel like they are powerless unless government leaders step up, and that receiving those leaders' attention is the only action they have available to them? How do we create stories that highlight the importance of behavior and cultural shift, in tandem with regulation? 

Generally speaking, legislators will be apprehensive to approve changes they don't feel will be received well, or where existing infrastructure can not be easily adapted. The more people setting an example of these transitions taking place, the easier it is to promote them within government, and the easier it is to demonstrate to education institutions that these are skills and concepts that need to be taught.

I won't go so far as to say that's "the" missing piece within regulatory framework strategies, but perhaps the specifics people can implement - clear, concise, quick to acheive and low effort - to demonstrate regulations in action, and to understand circular principles through experience, aren't receiving the attention they deserve in all industries either.


(A great resource, though not with a built environment focus: https://hotorcool.org/1-5-degree-lifestyles-report/ )




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