If you’re interested about the environment and want to start going green, here is a list of 6 habits that is common in people who are green conscious and environmentally aware. Learn the 6 habits now, and take action to improve and protect the environment.
The 6 habits include:
1) Respect all life and renew your bond with nature and its biodiversity (Self)
2) Improve your environmental awareness and knowledge (Self)
3) Practise the 3 “Rs” – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (Self)
4) Spread the environmental message and influence others (Family/Friends/School/Work/Group)
5) Support local environmental initiatives and groups (Community/Local Environment)
6) Use your rights as citizens and consumers (Community/Local Environment)
The habits begin with first developing your “Self” by respecting and renewing your relationship with nature and its biodiversity, improving on your understanding of environmental issues and knowledge, and taking personal actions to reduce wastage and overconsumption.
Next, move on to influence your “Family/ Friends/ School/ Work/ Group” by spreading the environmental message to others such as family members, friends and colleagues, and convincing organisations that you belong to, such as schools, companies, religious or social groups, to be environmentally friendly.
Finally, go one step further to shape your “Community/Local Environment” through supporting environmental initiatives by the government and environmental groups, volunteering or participating in activities organised by the groups, and exercising your rights as citizens and consumers to influence the status quo on the environment.
Habit 1: Respect Life and Renew Bond
“The first aim of education should not be to prepare young people for careers, but to enable them to develop a respect for life.” – Norman Cousin
We believe that all life are interdependent and have a right to live on this planet. Humans have evolved to a stage where we are doing harm to nature and its biodiversity. We need to improve and protect the environment so that we can live in co-existence with nature, preserving the earth as home for future generations of humans and other living beings. The first habit is to develop a respect for life and renew our bond with nature and its biodiversity. Nature has much to teach us on how to live and be better neighbours with the rest of life on Earth.
In recent times, we seem to have developed a human-centric view that humans are at the center of the world and where nature and other organisms revolve around us. There is an increasingly loss of respect for life, nature and its biodiversity. Their only value seems to serve as food and resources for us to exploit and enjoy. On top of that, there is also a trend towards individualism. We care more about ourselves and to a certain extent, our immediate family and friends. Our personal gains tend to outweigh the overall public interest. The Tragedy of the Commons as pointed out by Garrett Hardin in his famous paper, becomes inevitable if humans choose to ignore overall interests and focus on individual benefits. According to him: “Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit – in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons.”
As we regard ourselves as separate or superior to nature and other organisms on this planet, it inevitably causes us to lose our bond to the rest of life on this planet. We fail to remember that we are only one species out of the millions that share this planet. Are we so unique and superior? Even if we are, that does not give us the right to disregard the rest of the biodiversity that lives together with us on this planet. Humans are actually dependent on biodiversity – from microorganisms in our body that helps us to digest food to trees that take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. We have to see nature and its biodiversity as coexisting with us and not below us.
The urbanisation of society has also resulted in the increase in distance (physical and mental) between humans and nature. What surround us are buildings, manmade structures or artificially created green spaces. The only animals we see frequently are domesticated pets and birds. The appreciation of nature comes only as an afterthought when it is time to relieve stress or go for a holiday.
Why do you want to improve or protect the environment? You must first identify your own reasons to be concerned about the environment, be it personal, good or selfish. Without an answer, you will not be committed to take action. There are several reasons why people want to protect the environment. Some do it for the sake of preserving the Earth as home for their children and future generations. Some do it to improve their current environmental conditions. Others do it because they respect nature and its biodiversity, which they consider as sacred and that humans have no right to destroy them.
Regardless of the answer you give, it should include a respect for life. Everyone should develop a respect for nature, plants, trees, animals and all the biodiversity found on Earth . Developing respect means recognising and remembering that all living things have a right to live on this planet and a purpose in life. We should treat all living things as part of us and do no harm to them. This is described aptly in The Earth Charter, “Recognize that all beings are interdependent and every form of life has value regardless of its worth to human beings.” Without this respect and love for the environment, there will be no desire or wish to improve and protect it. Therefore, it is important that you first develop a respect for life on this Earth.
Humans have a bond with nature as described by the renowned biologist, Edward O. Wilson’s concept of biophilia. This phenomenon of biophilia is “defined as the innate tendency to focus upon life and lifelike forms, and in some instances to affiliate with them emotionally.” Humans seem to enjoy natural landscapes, animals and other living beings around us. We feel at ease with nature, and travel to explore the natural habitats and its occupants. One possible reason given to explain biophilia is that our ancestors came from the savannah and spent their lives with nature. So we seem to retain their instincts and prefer the natural world.
If biophilia is part of human nature, we should not lose that special bond. It is time for us to renew that bond with nature and its biodiversity. As Janine M. Benyus, author of Biomimicry reflects, “It is time for us as a culture to walk in the forest again. Once we see nature as a mentor, our relationship with the living world changes.” A good way to renew that bond is to start appreciating nature and the life around you. Explore the nature areas near you or join guided walks that are conducted by volunteer groups.
