How You Can Fight Climate Crisis and Still Enjoy Yourself
There are two wolves inside you. Here’s how to marry them.
Have you ever balanced on a slackline for 11 years straight? No? Me neither. Yet, I tried. Within these years, I fell so many times. And I always got up again to regain balance.
My starting point: Mrs. Goodlife wants to save the world
My life became a balancing act when I discovered the climate crisis.
It was 2012, the start of my Bachelor studies, when I increasingly read about human-made global warming and its threatening consequences. The urge to fight a global crisis grew stronger the more I learned about it.
At the same time, I was a party queen, being out every weekend (hugely understated), in love with shopping, traveling, sports, and good food.
Mrs. Goodlife wants to save the world now. Well… How does that match? Quite quickly, all my life felt like a massive conflict of interests.
Going through restrictive cycles
This was when the restriction kicked. One day, I could not bear the seeming contradiction of enjoying life but improving society anymore.
I decided to become a straight vegan, mainly eating non-processed foods, kicking flying out of my yearly activities, avoiding plastics at all costs, and only buying second-hand clothes. I attended demonstrations. And I became mad. Mad about people not feeling the same world-weariness. Those who, in my eyes, did not contribute to a better global society.
Now here’s the thing: Most of all, I was mad at myself. I had made my life a prison within which every minor action was assessed to whether it contributed to global sustainability: I did not eat if I could not find any unpackaged and vegan To-Go food; I wanted to go to Barcelona, so I took a 27-hour tour via train and a bus (which was not too bad in the end); I woke up very early to read all the bad news on climate crisis before going to university. I was obsessed.
And I unlearned enjoying life. Every second of mindless joy felt like a second wasted, as in that second I did not act against climate crisis.
However, acting obsessively and being hard on yourself is not the way to achieve most goals. If you want to finish a marathon, running 7 days every week will not lead to success but overtraining. If you want to deliver an outstanding performance in your job, 14-hour days will just lead to burnout. If you want to lose weight, not eating will give you a Yo-Yo effect or anorexia instead of a nice body.
Extremes are unhealthy and hard to maintain for most people.
When the boomerang hit my face
Likewise, my all-in-or-nothing approach to sustainability led to a Yo-Yo effect. When I could not stand my life anymore, I fell to the ground.
I stopped attending demonstrations, intentionally gave a f#*% for not flying, traveled to America, and even ate meat again.
Soon, I realized that the other extreme was no solution as well. It was not aligned with my values. Again, I felt empty and disappointed in myself. It was at this point that I realized:
If I want to contribute to global sustainability in a way that I can maintain in the long run, I have to make sure to handle my resources sustainably first.
My four-step masterplan: Regaining balance
What I needed was a way to contribute to the good in the world AND fulfilling my other needs. I needed to find my balance that lies somewhere in the middle. Doing good gives me energy to a certain extent. So does self-care and looking for what I need.
Doing good doesn’t mean running full power and saving the planet 27 weeks in a row. Fulfilling my other needs also doesn’t mean doing the total opposite like going abroad and living on steaks and champagne.
Here’s how it works for me:
1. Full batteries: What brings me joy
- First, I defined what gives me energy that is not fighting climate crisis: Much of it is still the same as 11 years ago (despite excessive partying). I love sports — especially tennis, traveling, and being creative.
2. Does this work more sustainably?
- Then I looked into how I can design these things in a fun and sustainable way. I sometimes allow myself to travel by plane. If it is a drive below 20 hours, I’d go by bus. I eat mostly vegan and do not condemn myself for a cheese sandwich if there are no vegan options. I go to parties and forget about sustainability for some hours if I want to. I attend protests with friends and draw nice signs – that’s loads of fun!
3. Define daily actions: Low-hanging fruits
- I defined actions that I can transform sustainably without much effort. For me, these are always carrying a reusable coffee cup, switching to a sustainable bank, having a sustainable mail provider, eating as vegan as possible, and buying mostly second-hand.
4. Structural over individual changes
- I acknowledged that structural changes in the world are much more impactful than individual ones. Instead of overcontrolling every inch of my life, I became political and worked on structural changes. In an organization that aims at bringing my home city to zero emissions, I work with like-minded on the same cause which gives me heaps of joy.
In a nutshell, the most sustainable thing is to ask yourself what makes you feel alive and then do that. The world needs more people that come alive!
This doesn’t mean acting recklessly and immorally as much as you want to. I mean you should turn inside first. Ask yourself what is the best way to meet your own needs and contribute to a better society at the same time. It is AND not OR. Find a way that you can sustain in the long run.
Wonder Woman fought the bad so many times.
And even Wonder Woman attended parties occasionally. ⚡️💪🏽
