The power of change

I am inspired when I read or hear of stories of societal change. Stories like the effect of the condom campaign in Thailand (that's a link to a pdf file) or the dramatic increase in wind power as a source of energy in Denmark. In my lifetime societal change has always been fast. The advent of the Internet, cell phones and numerous other technological advances have all happened in my lifetime! I have lived a short 21 years, but already I have seen incredible change. I can only imagine the kind of change my parents or my grandparents have seen.

Given my experience with all this incredibly fast change, it is a struggle for me to hear so much about needed environmental change and see so little being done. Perhaps it's because I am now old enough to be conscious of the change as it is starting and the slow beginnings make me anxious to see more in the future, but I feel as if this movement is crawling. The three pillars of society that encourage change as discussed in our reading by Garder, "Accelerating the Shift to Sustainability" don't seem to be contributing like they should. I am unimpressed with the government - all I can see is partisan arguments and special interests in control. Businesses seem to be thinking in the short term. There are examples of businesses who have heeded the call to go green, but they are in the minority. And civilians, as far as I can tell are valuing quick and easy over long-term benefits. I, myself, have only just woken up to the fact that I need to make some sacrifices to help push change along.

With all these stalled efforts in the three main sectors of our society, how will change ever start? Doesn't at least one sector need to make a big push to convince the others to come along for the ride. In this one area I am feeling pessimistic. I have seen very little to convince me the government or businesses at large will make short-term sacrifices. Indeed, I haven't seen much of that in the civilian sector either. Alas, right now all I can do is lead by example.