Self Reflection

Sophie Gorissen, 19-07-2024

Dear life-enjoyers,

As we wrap up this study year, I invite you to take a moment to reflect on the past year with me: to what extent did you actively choose to be more sustainable?

Three Personal Wins

From all the things I thought about regarding a more sustainable student life I successfully implemented three. First, vintage/second-hand shopping. In Germany and Strasbourg (France) I picked up a few very nice, long-lasting items. It actually felt more rewarding to find a good piece that I could really use and that also fit. Second, clicking or walking away from impulsive purchases and seeing how I feel an hour later. In this little bit of time, I could judge better if I really wanted (and needed) it. It created a barrier because it had to feel worth it to go back for it. Third, cooking up all my leftovers. I enjoyed the creativity around it, and sometimes it almost felt like a little competition with myself. This act of gamification motivated me.

The Thing with Intentions

My biggest surprise this year was that having good intentions does not automatically change into action. This also applies to me. A good example is that I want to diminish packaged products. Therefore, package-free shops have been invented. Unfortunately, it felt like too much of a hassle to go there and try it out. Good intention, but no action. There is a need for clear and precise action points to implement change behavior, and then one needs to stick with it. For the Entrepreneurial Literacy Initiative by Tilburg University, I read an article by Clayton M. Christensen (2010) called ‘How will you measure your life?’. He speaks of a lesson he learned. He says it is easier to hold to your principles all of the time than most of the time. As soon as you start making exceptions under the idea of “just this once”, you wind up making exceptions a lot more often, until they do not only become exceptions anymore. This is so true! Before I moved to Germany for my Minor I had a strict rule of not buying a coffee to go without my coffee cup, to spare on single-use. But there I was on my first day of class, walking to a coffee place with my classmates during our half-hour break. That day I made an exception and got a cappuccino oat milk to go in a single-use cup. There went my “principle”. In the half year I was there I indeed made a few more single-use cup exceptions. The coffee or matcha crave won. Christensen concludes his article with ‘you’ve got to define for yourself what you stand for and draw the line in a safe place.’. That is what I did now I am back! Just me and my coffee cup, or no coffee to go at all.

Climate Change & Convenience

What do you see when you look back on the past few months? I see a lot of rain. Out there in the world beyond our borders, we also saw floods, droughts, and temperature records. Dr. Katherine Hayhoe (2024) stresses that we have always had natural weather disasters. Climate change is now supersizing them, which is putting us all at risk. Climate change is not just an issue of science and the environment. It is an issue of health, food, water, economics, hunger, poverty, and justice. It is a human issue. So this is where we humans have a chance, in our daily life. Convenience makes things easy, but is that really what is most valuable in any given context? Convenience culture has its trade-offs (Secondhand.Sustainability, 2024). The question is who are we hurting and what are we missing out on when we make that convenience choice? Like Christensen (2010) says: ‘Think about the metric by which your life will be judged, and make a resolution to live every day so that in the end, your life will be judged a success.’.

Have a fantastic and consciously sustainable summer!

Love,

Sophie, your sustainable choice supporter.

References

Christensen, C. M. (2010). How will you measure your life? Harvard Business Review, July–August.

Hayhoe, K. (2024, July 9). Climate expert takes on comments. Instagram. Retrieved July 19, 2024, from https://www.instagram.com/p/C9NJfnTpMb6/

Secondhand.Sustainability. (2024, February 16). What do we lose with convenience culture? Instagram. Retrieved July 19, 2024, from https://www.instagram.com/secondhand.sustainability/