Who Do You Choose To Be?

Recently, I chose to be more aligned with my values. I spent time with my family and my friends, I enjoyed the beach, the parks and the beauty of nature. I realized how disconnected we are all from nature. As human beings we were born to live with nature not to destroy it.

I visited a museum in Virginia, with fossils of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs lived between 230 and 65 million years ago, in a time known as the Mesozoic Era. This was many millions of years before the first modern humans, Homo sapiens, appeared. The dinosaur era was about 66 millions of years. They disappeared because of an sudden mass extinction caused by a meteor.

They managed to live and expand during 66 MILLIONS OF YEARS.

The earliest finds of modern Homo sapiens skeletons date to nearly 200,000 years ago on Africa. The emergence of full behavioral modernity was 50,000 years ago.

Some human activities that cause damage (either directly or indirectly) to the environment on a global scale include population growth, overconsumption, overexploitation, pollution, and deforestation, to name but a few.

In less than a million of years, we are very close to provoke our own destruction.

No need of meteor or anything crazy, it is just our own behavior and, more than that, our mindset that is creating our extinction, through global warming.

What are these behaviors?

1. Driving a car

2. Incorrect disposal of batteries and ink

3. Plastic overuse

4. Food waste

5. Paper use

6. Boiling water with electrical appliances

7. Washing (using plastic peeling scrub cleansing micro-balls)

8. Meat consumption

9. Flushing the toilet

10. Brushing teeth

On the other side, what are the behaviors that will have a positive impact?

For me, it’s simple, it is about your mindset, your why and your connection with the nature and all human beings.

Because we are all concerned.

A mindset of a shared responsibility for the planet is essential to bring transformative change in the fight against global warming.

Which mindset will you choose?

In a recent study named “Climate Change: What’s your Mindset?”, six different mindsets were described:

Alarmed — convinced of the causes, consequences and seriousness of the issue, believe they are well informed; already making changes in their own lives and support an aggressive national response.

Concerned — convinced the globe is warming and it’s a serious problem, but have not engaged with the issue personally, including not always voting for political parties with strong climate policies.

Cautious — believe it is a problem, although less certain it is happening than the alarmed or concerned. Don’t view it as a personal threat and don’t feel a sense of urgency to deal with it.

Disengaged — haven’t thought much about the issue at all, don’t know much about it, and are the most likely to say that they could easily change their minds about global warming.

Doubtful — evenly split among those who think global warming is happening, those who think it isn’t, and those who don’t know. Many believe if it is happening, it’s caused by natural changes in the environment, won’t harm people for decades, if at all, and that we are already doing enough to respond to the threat.

Dismissive — majority believe warming is not happening, is not a threat to either people or non-human nature, and strongly believe it is not a problem warranting a national response. This group is very sure climate change is not happening, and are often actively involved as opponents of a national effort to reduce emissions.