Community Development Is Key to a Sustainable Future

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Community Development Is Key

When people talk about sustainability, they tend to think of making significant lifestyle changes. They often think of addressing social inequities, eating less meat, taking public transportation, buying secondhand clothes, and many other things. Of course, all of these are critical in building a greener future. Still, you need also to try alternative strategies to reach this goal. One option that not many people are talking about is concentrating on community development. This article will tell you about Community Development Is Key to a Sustainable Future.

Community Development is Key in Neighborhoods

Whatever kind of neighborhood you live in, community building goes a long way in building a better and greener future. It might not have the same impact as lowering your carbon footprints, protesting for companies to become more environment-friendly, and making more informed and conscious decisions. Still, it is necessary to build a community to fight for these causes with you on a smaller scale.

Of course, sustainability is essential. It is one of the many things that can help slow down the rising temperatures caused by climate change. Nowadays, sustainable products and services are everywhere. Even real estate developers are looking for ways to make their neighborhoods more eco-friendly. Which is why sustainable development in real estate has become one popular answer to the sustainable-home question. But how can you encourage your community to work together to achieve sustainability?

Communities with Common Goals Are Declining

In the mid-1990s, political scientist Robert Putnam wrote a study titled The Disappearance of Civic America. In this study, he stated that there had been a 25 percent decrease in individuals socializing since 1965. This impacted how groups can act together to fight for shared objectives and work toward achieving them. Unfortunately, these can be more difficult to achieve as there has been a decrease in individuals joining clubs and organizations needed to build communities.

The decline in persons attending social events can be attributed to several factors. However, it’s primarily attributed to individuals spending more time scrolling through online content using their phones and other electronic devices. Everyone has learned to form online groups and communities where they barely have time for real-world interactions.

For Real-World Changes, Offline Activism Is More Crucial Than Ever

The way people talk about social problems, including racism, police brutality, feminism, the pay gap, sustainability, the environment, and the climate crisis, has shifted dramatically in recent years. However, most of these discussions occur online, which is an effective method of getting more information to more people. But to maintain the momentum of these critical conversations, people should learn to create communities that will stand up and act in support of these shared objectives. Individual and online acts are influential, but the world also needs tangible, simpler changes to achieve when individuals work together in a community setting.

Immediate gratification like online comments and feedback when posting socially relevant content can be both addicting and satisfying. However, these won’t change the world fast enough. Yes, these online activities aren’t entirely pointless because, as previously mentioned, they can help spread awareness faster. But being an online activist should only be the beginning and not the end goal. Real-world action is required to initiate real-world improvements, which is what the world badly needs now. While noticeable changes take longer, it can be a little frustrating. However, if you’re patient enough, you will know that you’re making a bigger difference.

Another benefit of forming communities and engaging in offline activism is that you will localize the problems, which turns them into smaller and more manageable issues. Additionally, more people will be more interested in tackling the problem if they realize it directly impacts their lives. For example, the climate disaster is a worldwide issue that they will be interested in when you discuss it with people, but they won’t sense its urgency. You can pique their interest in taking action sooner by discussing issues in your areas, such as water contamination, plastic usage, and air pollution. In actuality, the climate catastrophe is far too significant a problem for small communities to tackle overnight. Still, it attempts to address local issues related to the more substantial problem that results in large-scale changes in the long run.

The Perfect Combination Is Online Awareness and Offline Action, Community Development Is Key

With the pandemic still being a significant risk, gathering as a group might not be advisable. Nonetheless, you can begin by defining the concerns you’d like your group to focus on and then convene once it’s safer to do so. Don’t forget that variety is vital in a community because it allows us to analyze your privileges and how they might affect how you approach the challenges. You can go beyond raising awareness and initiate a chain of transformative changes that will help your community attain sustainability if you do it correctly. It might be gradual, but it has the potential to grow into something significant.

Just remember that using technology is a terrific way to start. Still, it should only be a part of a bigger fight for the future. Don’t forget how community building and offline activism can help you achieve more. It might be time-consuming and mentally exhausting sometimes, but it’s critical to take the fight offline too.

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