How to make a difference

I’m not very philosophical, so I always appreciate when others present ideas in a way that helps me think about stuff. One of the aspects of Social Development Theory outlines how there are different spheres or ecosystems (e.g., self, family, community, country, world) in which any individual moves or operates. As water conservation coordinator, part of my job is to influence people, and I might try different approaches depending on your focus.

We all know people who are focused on self. They’re tough to influence because they’re absolutely sure that their opinions are the only correct ones. In fact, they don’t have opinions. Having an opinion implies that other opinions might exist. They are supremely correct. A self-focused person might believe that Big Government caused the drought in spite of all the rainfall data you could present. I might try to influence them by showing how their water bill will go down if they conserved water. They might think about how spending less on water will help them save toward the facelift surgery that their health insurance company won’t pay for.

Many of us are focused at the family level. Families with young children have perhaps the best argument for having a green lawn. Technology hasn’t invented a better playing surface, whether for kids or professional athletes. To the family-focused, I would ask you to look at whether your lawn is actually being used. Have your children grown beyond playing-on-the-lawn stage? Or consider values and experiences rarely available in a lawn-based landscape, such as how to grow plants, or how plants feed us and other creatures. What value to a child is a monarch caterpillar munching on a milkweed, or a hummingbird sipping from a penstemon flower? Perhaps a gardening grandma needs a place to putter. Plus, you could lower your water bill and put the money in your children’s college fund!

Community-based people can often be found in local government, serving on commissions and committees, volunteering, or active in their church. If you are a community-centered thinker, you probably understand the many ways that a water shortage could impact your community, from economic to emotional. The fact that our local water supply is not sustainable, and is vulnerable to the vagaries of California water politics concerns you. You replace your old toilets and make sure your church, your company, and your neighbor replace their old toilets. Your water bill might go down, but you replace your lawn with low water landscaping for the greater good of your community.

If you have a country- or world-based level of focus, you realize that our local concerns; non-sustainable water use, depleted aquifers, and cycles of drought, are happening throughout our country and world. You replace your toilet and change your landscape because at least you can do something to make a small change in such an overwhelming problem.

Finally, I need to add a category. You may have a nature- or ecosystem-based level of focus. You may despair that, in our human-centric set of values, we’ve forgotten that the rest of our world’s living creatures need water too. You cheer for the Delta smelt, and feel saddened about the number of the world’s great rivers that have been so over-allocated that the water no longer flows all the way to the ocean. You’ve long since changed your toilet to the lowest flow model available and let the lawn die. For you, I have the greatest gift of all, the option to create a little bit of habitat value in your yard, your balcony, or your window box.

Toilet rebates are still available from TCCWD. The state Department of Water Resources turf removal program still has rebate money available. I’m here to help. Go do something!