Janet McNeill

<written for the North Renfrew Times in August 2008>

“Almost anything you do will seem insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.” So said Mahatma Gandhi, one of the world’s most well-known and well-loved leaders, whose wise words continue to inspire millions of us around the world.

Another saying I’ve long enjoyed is, “If the people lead, eventually, the leaders will follow.” For some reason, our concept of leadership seems to lag behind the reality that many politicians often do not embody the characteristics of true leaders, and are often, if anything, leading us not ahead, but backwards – or, at the very least, in the wrong direction.

This means that we citizens – we regular, everyday Jane and Joe Q. Citizens, have to get ourselves out there and help get things turned around. Another favourite saying: “Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.” (James B. Conant).

A male turtle, eh? In my own years of environmental work, it’s been very striking to me to note how many of my fellow activists have been women. There are lots of notable men involved in environmental work, of course, but the backbone of many, many small, grassroots groups all over the world is predominantly female.

One can speculate on this, and since I’m as analytical as the next person, I’ve done lots of reading and thinking about what it is that really makes the two sexes “tick.” Two books I’ve found most informative are Brain Sex: The Real Difference Between Men and Women, by Anne Moir and David Jessel and The Moral Animal – Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology, by Robert Wright. My, what a lot has been learned about human behaviour and the brain since my university days in the 70’s!

Whatever the differences between women and men that lead so many women into environmental activism, as Thich Nhat Hanh has said, “If your house is on fire, the most urgent thing to do is to go back and try to put out the fire, not to run after the person you believe to be the arsonist.” Putting out “fires” and finding alternative or more adaptive ways of behaviour are certainly second nature to women who are mothers; is it not so?

A great and unexpected bonus of becoming involved and taking action is that one is introduced to a whole range of awesome people, a large pool of potential new friends. If you believe, as Plato said, that “Your wealth is where your friends are,” one can soon begin to feel quite rich! Joanna Macy and Molly Young Brown, authors of Coming Back to Life – Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World say in that book, “Grace happens when we act with others on behalf of our world.” I’d have to say that’s certainly been true for me!

I seem to be on a roll here when it comes to mentioning useful books. I am an obsessive reader, admittedly, and at the drop of a hat, when someone indulges me, will generally come up with at least 15 or 20 “must-read” titles, but the only other one I have in mind right now is New World, New Mind – Moving Toward Conscious Evolution, by Robert Ornstein and Paul Ehrlich. This book helps explain how human beings have wound up in the rather serious “pickle” we now find ourselves in, with respect to the environmental crisis. A key failure in human nature is our inability (or refusal) to think and plan for the long-term. Ehrlich and Ornstein explain why this is so – thinking long-term has simply not been part of our evolution – and what we need to do about this, pretty urgently!

I seem to have a quotation for almost every occasion, and I’m also a big fan of gratitude. Someone once said, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not sending it.” I want to say “Thank you, thank you, thank you” to Christine Harding for her leadership in the “greening” of Summerfest 2008. Very well done!!