About three times during the block I forgot about bringing my plate and cup to a meal. I probably should have given myself a couple exceptions to the rule so that I didn’t have to feel guilty for not adhering to my original goal of NEVER using a non-reusable plate, cup or eating utensil. What was nice about Colin Beavan’s “social exception”--the idea that he could make an exception to his mission if it were to meant to sustain his friendships and relationships--was that it prevented asceticism, which would be a hindrance to his project (Beavan, 140). By doing this, he was not forced to alienate himself from his friends and could simultaneously continue his project. I don’t want to make a social exception in the same way as Beavan necessarily because eating out with friends could easily be an excuse to blow off the project entirely. I do think, however, that it is important to use the lived ethics project as something that can become a part of my dialogue with my friends and family. Hopefully my project can serve as a model of emulation and can motivate others to be environmentally sustainable in other ways as well.
-Conclusions/What this means for me and for others?-
I plan to keep doing my project because I have now gained the support of the Benjis and Preserve staff. I’ve had good conversations with staff at both CC dining locations and they support my mission wholeheartedly. I have tried to spread my project to my friends and it has been incredibly difficult. I had a great conversation with Mario from Benjis who said that he would prefer that Benjis eliminate the use of paper plates too, which I found to be particularly interesting. I think the next step in the project is to find more ways for CC students and staff to be less wasteful and more sustainable, especially in their eating habits. Sinnott-Armstrong posited the argument that governments, rather than individual moral actors, are the primary actors responsible for fulfilling duties to their citizens in the realm of global climate change and environmental protection. Governmental incentives, however, should exist to make citizens want to drive a hybrid over a gas-guzzler, says Sinnott-Armstrong. While I don’t necessarily agree that individual moral responsibilities don’t exist, I do think that incentives for being more sustainable and eco-friendly are necessary. That is precisely why I think that incentives for CC students--such as the April Energy Challenge--can be fantastic for driving more students and citizens to fall in line with their environmental ethical values.
-What I have learned-
My lived ethics project has taught me a lot about my own life and environmental values. Before this class I had a general idea about my environmental ethical views, but I didn’t realize how out of touch I was with them in practice. What this project has taught me is the importance of individual ethical drives. So often we trade environmental responsibility for efficiency and convenience in our daily lives. The decision to use a non-reusable item over a reusable item demonstrates this ethical dilemma. As Colin Beavan pointed out from Heather Rogers: “some 80 percent of our products are made to be used only once. As trivial as that paper towel might seem, it points up a multitude of individual and cultural choice we make every day, choices that mean we are sucking resources out of the planet and sending them to a landfill or incinerator, having barely used them” (Beavan, 48). Every choice we make has costs that add up over time; that can either mean that we get stuck in daily routines of extreme wastefulness or of efficiency and sustainability. Hopefully we can foster those sustainable daily routines. My project to use only reusable plates, cups, and eating utensils, as well as not print out anything during the block, has taught me the importance of individual choices and how a small change in my life--even the least inconvenient change--can have a significant long-term effect.
My gear (the knife went missing today):
Quotes from Beavan: Beavan, Colin. No Impact Man. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009.
I find it encouraging that Benji's and Preserve staff support you. It also shows just how easy it can be to live more sustainably, even if not perfectly. Especially when you have the support of your community. When those around you are willing to and in fact want to help you, sustainability can be that much easier.
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