The simple changes, like switching over to CFL bulbs is obviously long term, but what about my new commitment to shop as much as possible at the East Lansing Food Co-op? I can't just shop at the co-op a few times this semester and then continue on with life feeling better about myself. I need to make a commitment to myself to institute this change not just here, as a college student in East Lansing, but in any situation. Of course, this could just be all talk. How can I be sure I will follow through? Using some of the methods of changing behavior I discussed in earlier posts, I can be more sure of my commitment lasting throughout my life. But really, I think I need to make these changes a part of me. I need to become a person who buys local food rather than a person who believes buying local food would be good if it wasn't so expensive. I need to shift things around in my budget so there is room for this new change and simply make it so. This is my new goal. Instead of a vague goal to become more sustainable, I have a goal to change my lifestyle and eat local food. I will do this in whatever city I live in, because I will make it work. Just like I find a way to make rent work, or find a way to make buying gas for my car work. I will find a way to make buying local food work.
I like your plan! It is a lifestyle change. If you focus on the journey, not the destination, you will get there and you will influence many others along the way. And, using one of the concepts of behavior change we studied, at a certain point, your sustainable actions will become mindless and habitual -- at that point, you will have formed a cognitive map. It took me a long time, but now recycling, reusing and composting are so much a part of me that I don't even think about them any more -- I just do. Same with buying locally and growing a lot of my own food -- which I share with others.
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