The goal of perfection is killing any social and environmental movement. Why?

It stuns people into inaction because there are too many choices
It can cause internal and external shame when you “mess up”
And more

So let’s explore this today and how we can get over these unrealistic goals of perfection and start taking action NOW.

Perfection is Impossible

I’ve said this for as long as I’ve been on social media! While I don’t think the zero waste movement, vegan movement, or Free Palestine movements (just to name a few) demand perfection themselves, I think it’s pedantic members of these movements that bring this air of perfection to the movement. It can make someone who is new to the movement feel that even one “mistake” or slight ideological deviation is shameful and not welcome. It can lead to public shame, private shame, or even internal shame.

This mindset, whether it’s from other members or from yourself, can stop you from even trying the lifestyle to begin with due to fear or embarrassment.

What can you do?

Well, you can’t control others, but you can control yourself. Work to dismantle that internal shame about being imperfect. Why does using a piece of plastic make you feel that way? Why does driving a car make you feel that way?

If you’re part of an organized group and someone is making you feel shame, bring it up to the person with a mediator to talk about these feelings and accusations. It’s scary to have these conversations, but no social movement can tolerate this. It dismantles movements and inhibits progress, and it must be shut down with care and consideration.

Change is Uncomfortable

When someone perceives that one has to be perfect to join a certain movement, the fear that we just discussed of doing the “wrong” thing leads to inaction. It’s easier to sit by and continue to go on with the status quo. Ignorance is bliss, after all!

It’s more comfortable and easier to just go on as normal, especially with the looming fear of perfection over your head.

And becoming aware of these issues leads us to question our habits and lives, and honestly, this might be where some of that internal guilt comes from. When you realize and learn that the companies you’ve been supporting and the brands you love are destroying the planet and putting human lives at risk, that’s a lot to grapple with. It’s important to remember that it’s not your fault for not knowing earlier, nor is it your fault that that company is exploiting people and the planet…and you!

Instead of feeling guilty for the things you’ve done in the past, keep learning and keep moving forward. Let this move you to act. Small, imperfect acts still matter. It’s okay to be messy on your journey, and it will be like a rollercoaster with many ups and downs. But just get started!

Exclusion and Policing

Y’all. I need you to be nicer in the comment sections. I know, sometimes people need correcting. No one is born knowing every single nuance of the world. We all learn at different times and it’s okay to educate others. But, please, do so kindly!

Here’s a real example. A mutual of mine on TikTok a few years ago made a video complaining about an orange that was peeled by the grocery store and packaged in plastic. They were genuinely confused as to why, when oranges come with their own biodegradable packaging, a peel. They were quickly labeled ableist, and the comments were relentless. This person just didn’t know about this since they are able-bodied. Their video was one of curiosity and confusion, not of judgment and shame. Yet they were not met with kindness and education. They were shamed.

Again, it’s okay to correct someone if they are factually wrong or if they are accidentally offensive, but aggressive policing of the movement is not the way to do it. It comes off as tone-deaf, judgmental, and exclusionary. This is literally why outsiders of the movement think that those within the movement demand perfection and will never join the movement because they know perfection is impossible.

If people support our cause of environmentalism and sustainability, let them join without being experts on every single nuance in this space! Help them learn as they go. Be a mentor instead of a beacon of judgment. Be kind instead of harsh. I know, it’s hard to read tone over text, and maybe your comment of correction was not intended to be rude, but was taken that way. Try softening your corrections with kind language and a friendly emoji. Better yet, correct that person in private, such as a DM, versus in the public comment section.

Striving for Impossible Perfection Leads to Burnout

Been there, done that. Burnout almost led me to quit zero waste in 2021. I was operating in this space as if I had to be perfect. I was making everything from scratch on top of working full-time, moving across the globe, and starting a new job. I wasn’t doing my hobbies, and I had no free time either. Something had to give. And I chose my focus on hyper-perfection.

Instead of striving for 100% zero waste (which isn’t even the goal of the movement, anyway), I dialed it back to maybe 80% zero waste for the time being to allow myself to breathe and learn to love the movement again. Now, zero waste feels natural to me and is part of my normal life. It’s not a chore, and I’m reducing more waste than ever! And my letting go of perfectionism is how I got here.

It’s taken a lot of work to unlearn these things. I no longer feel guilty for getting a store-bought kombucha over making my own from scratch. I no longer feel bad for using a car to get to a medical appointment when the bus isn’t a realistic option most days. Especially for the things out of our control, it just doesn’t make sense to guilt ourselves for those things we have no sway over!

The sustainability movement has to be sustainable for YOU, too.

You can’t save the world with one action

And that’s okay!

I feel like, as Americans, especially, we feel that we have to do the one thing that saves the planet, or we just shouldn’t do anything at all. There’s this lawyer this year who isn’t paying her federal taxes as a means of protesting the America governments involvement in wars around the world. She talks about how she knows that this alone won’t save the world, but it is still less money that the government has for war crimes. She continues by saying that more of us should act like this. We should just act!

We are often held back from acting at all because of this. We think that picking up one piece of plastic won’t save the world, so we might as well just leave it on the beach. We think that by giving up beef, it won’t save the planet on its own, so we might as well just eat beef for every meal. No!

Our small actions matter, period. It’s never bad to do a good thing. In a world that feels so dark and evil most of the time, choose to do good, even if it’s out of spite! It’s okay that your small action won’t save the world on its own, but imagine if we all did it. Imagine if every single person on the planet gave up this defeatist mindset and did a small action today. If we all gave up 1 plastic water bottle today, that’s over 8 billion water bottles prevented from being created and disposed of.

When you look at it that way, I hope you can see that your small actions DO matter. Take the action today. Even if it won’t have the planet right now, it might one day. And it will still make a positive impact.

So, what can we do?

First, we gotta do some internal work about why we feel these things and why we say such things to one another. Reflect on these feelings and work through them.

Next, let’s work on inviting people into the movement regardless of where they are. Even if they’ve never heard the words “zero waste” before, invite them in. Even if they still own a car or use plastic or eat meat, invite them in. Yes, vegans, your movement, too. It’s far better for people to take one little baby step today than to have never tried at all. It’s better for every person on the planet to become just 1% more sustainable than everyone be so scared of perfection that they never ever try.

Remember, too, that you are not the reason for the climate crisis. While it’s never bad to do a good thing and your small actions totally matter to making this world a cleaner place, if you do one “bad” thing, that alone is not killing the planet. Individual action matters, but individual guilt and judgment get us nowhere. It makes no sense to judge a disabled person for using a plastic straw or to judge someone living in poverty for buying fast fashion if that’s all they can afford. What we can, and should, criticize, though, is the system. Why do people live in food deserts and don’t have access to package-free and vegan food? Why don’t we have more bike lanes, sidewalks, and green spaces? Why are small businesses on the brink of extinction, and do people have no choice but to use Amazon? Let this knowledge of the real culprits of climate change and social justice issues influence your activism, not the small, wasteful thing your neighbor does.

Lead by example! Even if it’s not your intent, it can feel judgmental to be told to do something. Humans want to think we were the ones who came up with the idea. Instead of saying, “you should use a reusable water bottle,” just start bringing your reusable water bottle to work, to game night, to family dinner, and talk about the good benefits when it comes up naturally. Over time, I’m sure you’ll start to see friends, family members, and coworkers adopting the things you use simply because you led by example and they think they’re making that choice on their own.

Remember that your small actions work and matter on their own, but they matter more when everyone does them. Don’t stay in your bubble! Volunteer, educate others, and get involved in doing big and small things with your neighbors and community.

I hope you enjoyed this one. Let us know below how you think perfection is killing the zero-waste movement…or other activism movement! If you think that word doesn’t fit you, check out the definition of activism in this video. I bet it’ll change your mind!

As always, remember that your small actions make a big difference in the long run :)

Emma

Perfectionism is Killing Activism