Climate Action with a Stoic Twist

The classic stoic philosophers lived around two thousand years ago. Yet their insights, morals and writings can inform how we approach climate action in the 21st century.

“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own ...”
(Epictetus, Discourses. 2.5.4-5. Translation in The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday. 2016)

We often confuse two questions related to addressing climate change. First, what collective actions and laws will limit the magnitude of the upcoming change? And second, what individual actions should I take once I understand climate change? People often conflate the two and focus their personal actions on global or national policy solutions where they have some influence but little control - solutions like passing laws to provide EV and solar tax credits, a carbon tax, a cap-and-trade system, payments for clean energy production, or prohibitions on using polluting technologies.

Epictetus taught that a first step when approaching an issue is to determine which actions I control and which actions are external to my control.

The actions I control are the actions I take. And many of the actions I take cause greenhouse gas emissions. Today, with no new laws, I can drastically cut my emissions. I can avoid flying on airplanes and either use virtual meetings, choose vacation destinations closer to home, or find alternative methods of travel which cause lower emissions. I can make a plan to convert my car to an EV and convert my space heating and water heating to heat pumps if I own my home. I can stop eating beef and significantly cut back on eating meat in favor of more vegetarian options. I can buy fewer consumer goods if I have a lifestyle matching a higher income household. These are “choices I actually control.” I do not need anyone to write and pass new legislation directing me to make these choices. And I do not need to wait - I can act today.

I can also directly control a second tier of choices to further support reductions in our collective emissions. I can stop allowing my savings to be used to fund fossil fuel exploration, extraction and processing. I can vote in every election - an extremely meaningful action - and I can consider candidates’ positions on climate change when I vote.

I can also use my voice to advocate for policies I support by speaking up, making sure all of my elected officials understand my opinion and my views on upcoming legislation, and by joining with others who share my concern. I control my voice, and I can train and practice speaking constructively.

“We must give up many things to which we are addicted, considering them to be good. Otherwise, courage will vanish, which should continually test itself. Greatness of soul will be lost, which can’t stand out unless it disdains as petty what the mob regards as most desirable.”
(Seneca, Moral Letters. 74:12b-13. Translation in The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday. 2016)

A stoic response starts with recognizing which actions are in my control - and accepting responsibility for my own actions. In my life this has involved changing habits I clung to as if addicted - like eating cheese on almost every sandwich and taking an annual airplane based trip to visit another National Park in the mountains out west.

“All the actions of an entire life are governed by consideration for what is honorable and what is base; reasoning about what to do or not do is guided accordingly. Let me explain. A good man will do what he believes is honorable, even if it is arduous, even if it is dangerous. Conversely, he will not do what he believes is base, even if it brings money, or pleasure, or power. Nothing will frighten him away from what is honorable; nothing will entice him toward what is base.”
(Seneca, Moral Letters. 76.18. Translation in Fifty Letters of a Roman Stoic; Seneca Translated Margaret Graver and A.A. Long 2021)

52% of Americans are alarmed or concerned about climate change. Yet only 8% of new car sales in the US are electric vehicles (EVs) and another 14% are Hybrids. And only 5% of Americans report following vegetarian or vegan diets. The choices we make do not always align with our words and our concerns about climate change.

“Prove your words through your actions. They have a different aim, those declaimers who seek to win the agreement of an audience; a different aim, those speakers of the present day, who merely set out to produce a ... rant for the entertainment of young men without enough to do. Philosophy teaches us to act, not to speak. Its demands are these: each person should live to the standard he himself has set; his manner of living should not be at odds either with itself or with his way of speaking; and all his actions should have a single tenor. This is the chief task of wisdom, and the best evidence of it too: that actions should be in accordance with words, that the person should be the same in all places, a match for himself.”
(Seneca. Moral Letters 20.2. Translation in Fifty Letters of a Roman Stoic; Seneca Translated Margaret Graver and A.A. Long 2021)

The most predictable way to change these behaviors is to make a habit out of them. Habits have a profound impact on our choices.

“Every habit and capacity is supported and strengthened by the corresponding actions, that of walking by walking, that of running by running. If you want to be a good reader, read, or a good writer, write… If you want to do something, make a habit of doing it; and if you don’t want to do something, don’t do it, but get into the habit of doing something else instead.”
(Epictetus, Discourses. 2.18.1-4 Translation in Epictetus Discourses, Fragments, Handbook, Robin Hard. 2014)

“Objective judgment, now, at this very moment.
Unselfish action, now, at this very moment.
Willing acceptance, now, at this very moment–of all external events.
That’s all you need.”
(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. 9.6. Translation Gregory Hays. 2002)

I have had more than one friend tell me that global climate change is too big for their individual actions to make a difference. But that is a fallacy. Climate change is a complex problem specifically because it is the result of the actions of billions of individuals. All of the petroleum refined into gasoline would still be gasoline (or maybe just petroleum buried underground) if consumers did not buy the gasoline and burn it in internal combustion engines.

It is not about blaming myself, simply accepting my contribution. If I won’t accept responsibility for my actions, why should others accept constraints I lobby to put on their actions?

We need collective action to slow our global rate of greenhouse gas emissions. And today, right now, we can accept responsibility for the choices that are our own and act and reduce our emissions. If the 52% of Americans concerned or alarmed about climate change would act accordingly, we would collectively reshape our economy. We control what we purchases. We control our diet. We control our vote. We direct our investments. And we choose how we use our voice to speak in favor of change.

“stop talking about what the good man is like, and just be one.”
(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. 10.16 Translation Gregory Hays. 2002)

Jim

Want a bit more on stoicism and climate change, check out Ryan Holiday’s post A Stoic Guide to Climate Change.