Personal Choice

Movement towards an environmentally sustainable society will challenge the values currently held by many people. Those who own and control the wealth and power may feel threatened by a de-centralised democracy and a more equable distribution of the earth's wealth. Those who believe that the status quo benefits them most will feel threatened. Change can be uncomfortable and unwanted, but people will need to adapt if they and future generations are to survive in good health and with a good quality of life.

Every human being is responsible for his or her actions. As consumers people have a choice about what they buy and from whom they buy. Choice is an individual decision and a powerful tool for change.

The materials that people use come from the environment and are returned to the environment at a lower state of value. We can choose to buy products that last and can be recycled when eventually they do wear out.

The way people use their bodies is reflected in the illnesses that they get. Similarly the way people use or abuse the environment is reflected in the health of the environment. People have as much power to heal the earth as to harm it.

Everything that people do influences the environment in either a positive or negative way. In their homes, gardens, cars, shops, places of work or leisure their everyday actions either help protect the environment or contribute towards its destruction. People are the solution or the problem.

When people change the way they live, often in very small ways, they influence the world in really profound ways. Individuals replacing negative habits with positive ones are part of a global movement with significant effects on the environment. In the process of change people not only help the environment but also improve the quality of their own lives.

Through their actions ordinary people all over the world are making a difference. The revolutions of today are not violent overthrows of the state but consumer boycotts and simple changes in personal behaviour. People who see the world's problems as large and insurmountable fail to appreciate the multiplying effect of simple individual action.

Political action through voting or lobbying is important for introducing laws that protect the environment and change the way we run society. But individual actions are just as important. People must not rely on governments to sort out their problems.