Steps Toward Change
Here are the steps toward change:
- Understanding - Change how we see the world
Acquire knowledge, experience, understanding and a new perception of the world. - Planning - Change how we see the future and where we’re going
Create a vision, and then create a set of goals which mark the path to that vision. We must make every effort to anticipate the possible consequences of following the path, and adjust our vision to minimize the undesirable consequences. - Acting - Change our behavior
Make decisions and take actions in line with the vision, ones which move us steadily to each successive goal. - Living - Enjoy the fruits of change
Stop, smell the roses and enjoy the new situation, while taking pride in having achieved our goals and brought our vision to life. As we’re enjoying this new place, we acquire new knowledge and new levels of understanding, which eventually brings us back to Step 1.
The most difficult parts are Steps 1 and 3 because they involve changing the most fundamental patterns of living; our habitual ways of thinking (Step 1) and acting (Step 3). Step 2, the planning stage, is challenging because it involves collaboration. And Step 4? What is it you’ll enjoy doing in the new world we’ve created?
If this feels too abstract, not to worry, here’s a concrete example of the steps as they relate specifically to power/energy in our economy:
- Understanding - Most of our power comes from fossil fuels (petroleum, coal, natural gas), and the ways in which they are currently used have many unpleasant consequences (pollution and war, for example). Energy sources with far fewer unpleasant consequences are direct solar energy (thermal and photovoltaic), and short-term derivatives of solar energy (wind, rain, waves and ocean currents). For many of us, understanding these principles is a challenge, but that’s the work of Step 1.
- Planning - The vision we’ll pick for now is a world where all our energy is generated from direct solar energy, using commercially available technologies, such as photovoltaic and thermal solar panels. In our vision, these sources of energy provide all the power we need. Again, many of us will view this vision as a near impossibility, but with a clear understanding of the technologies and careful planning we can make the transition successfully.
- Acting - To the greatest extent possible, we buy products and services which use and support technologies in line with our vision. This might include short-term interim goals, such as buying plug-in hybrid vehicles, before moving on to completely electric vehicles. Most important, we do our very best not to buy or use vehicles powered only by fossil fuel burning technologies. Interestingly, this also means we make every attempt to use electricity generated from direct solar technologies when charging our cars and powering our businesses and homes. We do our very best to eliminate our use of electricity generated from the combustion of fossil fuels.
We also make every effort to vote for representatives and policies in line with the direct-solar vision. Step 3 is difficult, because in many cases the choices that move us toward our vision will result in more money spent “up front”, such as a higher car payment on a plug-in hybrid, and less spent on the “tail end”, such as buying expensive gas for a fossil-fuel powered vehicle. - Living - Once we’ve made the transition to our vision, the streets are quieter, the air is easier to breathe. In fact we may enjoy the sounds and smells around us in ways we never imagined possible. For many of us it’s hard to imagine how it would feel to live in this new world, but if you’ve ever been up in the mountains you know what we’re missing. We also check around to see if there have been any unintended consequences, and make adjustments if necessary. As we enjoy the new state of the world, we begin to think about how things could be even better and what we’d need to do to make those better things come to life. But most important, we enjoy life in our new world!