More environmental activism is needed still.

Question: Collectively, what should we be doing? 

Graham Hill: I think as humans, we’re pretty good at talking about stuff, which is great. But I’d like to see more personal action, and really I’m talking to myself here. I’ve created this great site and built this fantastic team around it. But I think that people should focus on themselves. If people can do the right things personally, that can have a tremendous impact.

And so we often look to government, or business, or other people to do these things. But I think if we all spent more time looking to ourselves; it’s really that simple.

Question: What is one thing we can do to have a disproportionately large impact?

Graham Hill: I think if we were very vocal, with both our dollars, in terms of what products and services we’re willing to support and what not; and in terms of the political process, I think that that in itself can have a tremendous impact because it also impacts the people around you.

So it covers the consumer and the personal aspects. It sends a message to business, and sends a message to governments. So I think if we’re a lot more vocal and a lot less concerned about what other people thought, I think we’d be well on our way.

Question: How can we be green every day?

Graham Hill: It really depends who you are and what you’ve done. 

What do they say, “Perfection is the enemy of the good”--or something like that? I think a lot of people will put the stuff off because they want to do the right thing. And I think logically, the way to approach your own personal situation, in terms of the environment, is to take some time; do a carbon calculator; figure out where you have the most impact; focus on those things first, etc.

I think the challenge with that is that people may put that off and put that off because it’s a big thing, and they just want to do it right, and they just want to make sure.

I just try to counsel people; just get started. Pick something. It doesn’t really matter what. Pick something that matters to you and that just feels right and just start. And I think that gets you on the path.

And then, if you want to be more strategic, great. By all means. Get one of those carbon calculators, figure out where you can have your impact, and just do that. So I think that’s a big one. I think in terms of general concepts, there’s a very, very simple one.

Just small is sexy. And it applies to everything. Like we have this perception that we need a lot of things or volume or what have you in order to be happy. And we just don’t. So whether it’s architecture. The houses have gone from close to one thousand square feet  fifty years ago, to close to two and half [thousand feet today]. So literally two and a half times as big; while the average family size has shrunk.

It’s not like we’re a lot happier now than we were in the  Fifties. So you can live a great life and in a much smaller home. And by doing that, because the space is much smaller, you save on heating. You save on cooling. You save on lighting. You save on furnishing. And it just makes for an overall simpler life.

I think focus on small. Small is great. And that can be cars. That can be architecture. That can be the size of your wardrobe. That can be your number of weekend jaunts via plane. I think just focus on that. That would be what I’d say.

Recorded on: July 28, 2008