by Kurt Turrell (Great Ideas Blog)

Created on: April 26, 2008   Last Updated: April 27, 2008

IDEA: Demand Change By Changing Demand!

"Every decision you make has a price tag attached to it," I told my teen recently. "There are visible consequences and invisible consequences for each and every one of your decisions and actions," I continued. Then suddenly, in the back of my mind, a seed of guilt and hypocrisy began to gestate: I was not discussing global warming and the survival of our planet I was speaking in general terms about life but I was poignantly (yet silently) aware that my words of wisdom apply entirely to a critical discussion of the impending death of our planet, the changes that must be made by each individual (including me!) that are unavoidable, and the relevance of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It was while reading the most recent issue of Time magazine that my seed of guilt and hypocrisy took root and broke ground. This was Time's first edition ever to have a green border on its cover, and only the second time that the magazine sported anything but a red border. This was Time's "Special Environmental Issue", and the outstanding article I read was entitled: "Why Green is the New Red, White and Blue." I applauded the author (Bryan Walsh) for expounding the principles of a "cap-and-trade system with teeth, coupled with tougher energy-efficiency mandates and significant new public and private investment in green technologies"(page 57), but it hit me anew that saving our planet from global warming will mean much more than those "macro" changes. It is the "grass roots" arena, the micro, the individual, that fuels large scale, sweeping changes. The tail must indeed wag the dog.

Our collective choices have brought the world to this moment in time, and it is our collective choices that can have the greatest impact on global warming. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have become a license to do as we please within our means and lawsto consume voraciously, to pollute irresponsibly, and to gratify and satiate (ourselves) entirely. It is our individual choices and our good intentions that must change. For it is resolution, action, and sacrifice that bring about real change, not intentions alone. My seed of guilt and hypocrisy were a reflection of my good intentions, lack of action, and unwillingness for sacrifice. Intentions are good, but only become excellent when made reality. When we demand personal change and collectively demand better choices from everyone we can change the demands we now make, and will make, on our

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