You don’t get to be optimistic without buying into the solution. How? Doing your bit. How? You choose.
If you can be an activist, be an activist. If you can’t, support people who actively work toward solutions by donating money, by spreading their word, by gently and respectfully stating their case to people you know.
If you can plant a tree, plant a tree. If you can’t, support tree planting by donating money to organizations that do or by using Ecosia as your internet browser, which uses income from search ads to plant trees.
Go meatless at least one day a week (it’s easy now — it’s Lent!) Turn off lights you aren’t using. Turn down your heat during cold weather and moderate your air conditioning a little during hot weather. Drive less. Let your new car be electric, or at least a hybrid.
Here’s a book about it, called The Future We Choose. I read about it in this article on Fast Company, called What you can do about climate change, today.
The first thing they suggest you do is to be optimistic. It’s a mind set that says that success is possible. But that doesn’t mean sit back and dwell in a passive state of optimism. In this case, “be” is active. In this case, optimism is something you earn by making your little bit of difference.
*claps twice* Let’s do this!
A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: A lot of people each do a little and make a big difference.
MA
Ally Bean
February 28, 2020 at 12:37pmI wonder if being optimistic is the solution to most problems? Puts you in a headspace where you’ll be more inclined to think you can solve the problems, instead of moping around. It’s the little engine that could thinking.
Marian Allen
February 28, 2020 at 2:29pmNot the solution, but maybe the beginning of the solution. Sitting around going “la-la-la” is no more productive than moping, but I get what you mean. The little engine, while she was saying, “I think I can,” was simultaneously TRYING. Good point, Ally!
Holly Jahangiri
February 28, 2020 at 4:54pmBeing optimistic is an ENABLER of solutions.
Being passively optimistic is simply believing that someone, out there, will solve all the problems. And I think it IS more effective, Marian, than being pessimistic – because when we BELIEVE in others, they may be more likely to rise to the occasion and do what we think THEY can. It’s a small difference, but if cheerful optimism encourages someone who is actively working on the solution, I’ll take it over fatalistic pessimism.
It may be enough to give someone a chance to rest and recover their own optimism, pick up their pieces, and carry on doing the work. It’s definitely better than NOTHING, even if it’s not MUCH better than nothing. 🙂
Marian Allen
March 1, 2020 at 7:40amYup. That’s why sports teams have cheerleaders, pep teams, and fans. 🙂