Healing our“ environments” through compassionate action
PEACE SIGNS
Healing our“ environments” through compassionate action
by Dawn Shattuck
Humanity, as we now know it, seems to be on a dangerous path of self-destruction that requires getting our collective hearts and heads wrapped around healing the damage we have done to our environment. If we think about the challenges we face, climate change, pollution, and our ability to curb greenhouse emissions often come to mind, but we have many“ environments” that impact our collective wellbeing physically, emotionally, spiritually, and certainly psychologically. The worlds of war, poverty, hunger and mental illness, for example, are also environments we might experience directly or be affected by indirectly through the media.
So where is the good news about any of our environments? There are now hundreds of organizations and millions of people focused on and committed to making significant changes in these troubling environments with or without governmental assistance. Thankfully there are also many organizations like the United Nations, Greenpeace, 350. org, Sierra Club, Audubon, USC Center for Science and Democracy, Save the Children, World Wildlife Fund, Co-op America, Rainforest Action Network, World Watch Institute, and the National Geographic Society among many others, that are working very hard to create hope for a very different future.
We know intuitively that it will take a long time to turn the Titanic, but we must be relentless and not give up. One of my favorite quotes is by Margaret Meade:“ Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’ s the only thing that ever has.” We are now collectively a world of a single fate— and only together can we make the monumental changes necessary for our survival.
• Limit influences and opportunities for problem behavior; and
• Promote psychological flexibility, which is a mindful approach to pursuing one’ s values even in the face of emotional, cognitive, and real-world challenges.
Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. The United Nations continues to be one the greatest champions for the world and our varied environments. These goals encompass many realms of concern such as poverty, hunger, climate action, gender equality, etc.
The 16th goal is“ Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies.” A few of the specific targets of this goal are to reduce all forms of violence; end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence and torture of children; ensure equal access to justice; and promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies.
Big strokes for Earth Day Network. The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. Twenty years later, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. More than one billion people now participate in Earth Day. Earth Day Network is the world’ s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working with more than 50,000 partners in 196 countries to build environmental democracy. They work through a combination of education, public policy, and consumer campaigns. Together we’ ve reached 2,023,365,347 Acts of Green. Help us reach 3 Billion!” www. earthday. org
Keys to a nurturing environment. New research and a book by Anthony Biglan, PHD, The Nurture Effect: How the Science of Human Behavior Can Improve Our Lives and Our World, posits that no matter the context or the problem at hand,“ nurturing environments” should do these four things:
• Minimize toxic social and biological conditions;
• Teach, promote, and richly reinforce prosocial behavior;
34 IMAGINE l FALL 2016