Preface
On beautiful fall afternoon a few years ago, I was meeting with a student who was failing my course on sustainability. His slumped shoulders and lack of eye contact communicated more than his responses to my questions. His motivation in the course was very low. As I asked about his goals and how he planned to pursue them, he turned toward me and vehemently exclaimed, “What is the point of doing all of this? We are all screwed!”
His outburst expressed what I was slowly recognizing has become almost common sense among a significant subset of young people. But not just young people. Many who care about sustainability and environmental issues share a similar feeling of pessimism. Declining biodiversity, failure to act aggressively on climate change, growing inequality, persistent racism, political polarization, and a growing threat of violence—all magnified by a crisis-oriented media—have led many people to think that the future is very gloomy if not apocalyptic.
Yet we cannot afford to allow pessimism, cynicism, and despair to undermine our commitment to sustainability or our pursuit of flourishing in the face of an onslaught of crises. For over a decade, my research focused on the social norms we must alter and the character traits we must strengthen if we are to live well in our times. Initially I aimed to identify what I call the “skillful habits” that would help people to change the world, but I gradually realized that I also needed to highlight the tools that would enable us to be highly resilient no matter what happens in the future. Ultimately, I reached the surprising conclusion that the skills we need to flourish in our troubling times are also critical for moving robustly toward sustainability. A win-win strategy emerged: If we cultivate character traits that maximize flourishing in the midst of major environmental and social decline, we will also strengthen traits that are crucial for shifting social norms toward sustainable solutions.
The task of flourishing no matter what happens should therefore appeal even to those who think “we are screwed.” This book is written primarily for individuals, like my student, who are feeling hopeless, and for those whose professions involve motivating others to turn our collective trajectory toward sustainability. Both groups must confront the enervating power of pessimism about the future. In this book, I will share how each of us can cultivate the requisite skills and thereby find the motivation and the knowledge for how we can overcome our greatest challenges.
The most valuable lessons I have learned in writing this book is where I should strengthen my own skillful habits. Even where I thought I had practiced the requisite skills, I discovered significant blind spots. I have become better at collaborating with diverse peoples, less inclined toward problematic convictions, and better at finding beauty in my surroundings through writing about how such skillful habits contribute to flourishing. We know that we should develop the skills associated with our character throughout a lifetime, but we can all use reminders about where their further development could significantly improve our well-being. This book provides that guidance.