I was at a workshop last week with some people who were looking for their ‘vocation.’ One man spoke with a lot of energy about global warming, the environment, and teaching people about sustainable living. I kept encouraging him to look at this as something that was really calling him, since this topic was the only thing that made him light up and come alive. He had a lot of reasons for not getting engaged with it.  One of them was: “The majority of people in Canada are not ready to change the way they live, or even to consider how serious the situation is. We are losing vast tracks of forest now to the pine beetle and other beetles, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.”

I heard myself replying to him in this way:

“When was any great idea, project or initiative ever supported by the majority of people? If you wait for them, you’ll wait forever.”
I spoke to my partner about it that night, and he said, “The only thing that the majority of people have consistently agreed upon is going to war.”

The other thing I told the man at the workshop was this: I think something is really happening now, in our collective consciousness. More and more people are talking about global warming and our environment. Even my aunt, who never speaks about such things, spoke to me this week about what’s going on in the oceans. Amidst the feelings of helplessness and despair, people seem to be waking up to the fact that each one of us can actually make a difference, day by day, if that’s what we want to do. In fact, we are making a difference, whether we want to or not, it’s just a matter of how conscious we are of it. We are so completely interconnected on this little blue spinning ball in space, that we impact each other constantly in ways that our small minds cannot imagine. Check out the award winning movie ‘Black Gold,’ which shows us that ‘just through one cup of coffee, we are inextricably linked to the heart of the global economy.’

Try this: See if you can find one thing to do on a regular basis to help our beautiful planet, something that really feels right and fitting for you.  Let me know what it is. If this is a tough one for you, have a look at the beautiful new book, ‘Change the World for Ten Bucks-50 ways to make a difference.’ (This playful, elegant and powerful little book only costs ten bucks.)