Trump and the laser pointer
Don’t let bozos treat you like a cat.
At a recent webinar, Jonathan Wise of Purpose Disruptors said something like this:
Everyone keeps trying to predict what Donald Trump will do next. We’re like a bunch of kittens staring at a wall, and he is toying with us with his laser pointer.
The analogy applies to more than Donald Trump. Everywhere, the far right are gaining power. And everywhere, their agenda is the same:
make you poorer
make you feel alone
make you hate the greens/immigrants/women/LGBTQIA+
But I am no kitten. I don’t like being toyed with. And I bet you don’t like it either. So what do we do?
We take the power back, silly!
Focus on what you can control
The key is to stop reacting and start acting. Just find simple actions you can take right now. And make sure they don’t cost loads, take ages or require anyone’s approval. Here are 3.
Spend less
Electricity, food and fuel cost more. To cover these expenses, one solution is to earn more. If you’re lucky, this means chasing higher-paying clients. But for most people, it means working more.
This is exactly what Trump and his buddies want – you working more. They want to keep you busy, distracted and desperate. Because when you’re running from job to job and juggling kids and school and work, you’re too washed out to reflect on the long game.
Don’t play by their rules. Don’t chase more earnings. Tackle your expenses. What’s superfluous? What can you cut back? What can you replace?
Take your energy provider. I wrote on LinkedIn how my provider cost me more initially but has saved me money in the long run. Try Octopus Energy in the UK or Pinergy in Ireland.
Or take your entertainment budget. There’re tons and tons of great series out. (Arcane being one.) I binge-watch them as much as you do. But all those subscriptions and devices add up. Why not borrow books, CDs and DVDs from the library instead? Total cost: zero.
We’ve talked about wants versus needs before. Let go of some of your wants. Trust me, it’s not frustrating. It’s liberating.
Stand with others
You know the expression “divide and conquer”. The Romans used it. And the Christians. And the Portuguese, Spanish, French, English, Dutch, Italians, Germans, Russians, and Americans.
A bully’s tactic, in other words. They isolate you. They corner you.
Trump and the far right are bullies. But no matter how hard they make the world for you, never stay quiet. Talk. Join groups. Get organised. Help each other. As the High Sparrow says in Game of Thrones:
“You are the few, we are the many, and when the many stop fearing the few ...”
It doesn’t matter what community you’re in. Sustainability, social justice, feminism, LGBTQIA+, whatever. We all stand for a fairer future. So let’s stand together.
Accept the journey
Sustainability is a journey of ups and downs. And a backlash is inevitable. When so many powerful people stand to lose so much money, you know they won’t go quietly into the night.
Trump is riding this backlash. To soothe his acolytes, he’s taken the US out of the Paris Agreement. He’s using tariffs to force the EU to buy American oil. For the love of sweet Mother Earth, his slogan is “Dig, baby, dig!” The environmental damage he’s about to unleash could easily lead you to despair.
Remember – sustainability isn’t a big announcement. It doesn’t happen in Washington or London. And it doesn’t happen overnight. It happens in the home, in our daily lives, in every action and intention.
This is how you take back power. Accept the process. Take it step by step. In other words, don’t try to overhaul your food, banking, energy and transport all in a weekend. Instead, pick 1 area of your life you can improve, select 1 aspect of that area you can change right now, and change it.
Eat meat 3 times a week? Replace 1 meat dish with a plant-based meal and save yourself a few bob. Drive to work every day? Organise a liftshare on Fridays, make new friends, and save yourself a few bob.
These actions sound simple. But if you do them, you’re reducing your meat consumption by a third or your car use by a fifth. That’s massive!
Not sure where to start? Take the WWF carbon calculator and pick an area you can change right away. My next step is green banking.