MAR 29, 2024 JLM 68°F 10:13 AM 03:13 AM EST
Tel-Aviv University:  To save the planet, try stopping the scare tactics - Positive thoughts on our Earth

Positive sustainability is all about encouraging people to do what they can for the environment without ruining their lives. And it works.

“For years, the whole issue of sustainability really deterred me. Because I’m not going to walk around in cloth shoes, start traveling by bus or give up my washing machine,” admits Tammie Ronen.

“But every one of us can choose what and how much they’d like to do. Once I don’t have to do absolutely everything, it means that I don’t have to become a strange creature who hugs trees. Instead, I’m very active. I don’t litter, I recycle, I don’t use single-use plastics and I try using products that are more environment-friendly,” she tells ISRAEL21c.

“Each person can contribute their share. The moment you don’t come to people and tell them what not to do, but encourage them to choose what they can do to contribute to the environment in a way that doesn’t screw up their lives but does contribute to the environment – a lot can happen.”

This, in a nutshell, is the basis of the emerging field of positive sustainability. Ronen, a senior professor at Tel Aviv University, is researching this with her colleague Dorit Kerret.

Ronen comes from the field of positive psychology, and until recently was head of TAU’s social sciences faculty.

Kerret comes from the field of public policy, where she specializes in law, environment studies and public health. The two joined forces when they realized that their respective fields could bring to the fore an innovative approach to positive sustainability.


Picture: A Tel Aviv rally calling for environmental action, October 29, 2021. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90

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