It starts inside

We all profess concern about sustainability.

I read Paul Gilding's book on "The Great Disruption" and am alarmed and horrified by what I feel to be true. We are heading towards a human "collapse" and our limits of growth are well and truly breached.

I read that my return flight from Australia to the UK will produce 5.2 tons of greenhouse emissions per passenger. Per passenger.

I read that Apple and Boeing were rated in 2008 amongst the top environmental polluters in the USA.
I read... well, I could go on.

But I won't. You get the idea. I cringe. I am a contributor to the problem. Probably like you? We have three teenage kids, multiple desktop computers, iPads, notebooks, ads, TVs, three cars, but we are even worse - we don't earn a living in our home town, we fly to clients or; congratulate ourselves because we use Skype for meetings and business...

And some of our clients are busting guts on how to grow their busienss so in the process they can use more resources and add to global emissions and waste....

I live on a beautiful island that is green in name only (image above). It's very shaky government has no long term vision of what it is or what it wants to become. Only 30% of the people are self employed - the rest rely on state or federal government for their main source of income. There is no sense of urgency to build a real vision for the island with its half a million inhabitants either. It is lost in detail. A shop owner can't operate his business until the City Council approves repair plans to his damaged building, yet it it fusses over attractive red awnings hung on a dull street.

I am going on a bit of a pilgrimage soon; a chance to think and maybe even reset my own values and personal purpose. Lately I have found myself thinking that the real change people talk about desiring; either from a professed concern for sustainability (but no one wants a carbon tax), being dissatisfied, lonely, out of flow and despite having all the material wealth (and we never have enough) has to starts from within.

No government or council will do it for you. In fact I doubt anyone will be able to change the hugely complex and interrelated systems we have created. I am not sure Paul Gilding is right, that one day we will suddenly be galvanised into a war footing.

No, I think the change has to start within. At a local community level. Between neighour on a street. It has to I think starts with us seriously questioning our choices and deciding we have Enough. In fact I have written a fictitious story about this, which has really caused me to start thinking about what Enough could mean.