To be a true “ecodove” you need to adhere to three principles:
1 – We do not use fear to influence behavior.
Fear is a powerful tool for prompting action – just ask sensationalist news outlets and politicians. Fear has its place in our lives, but it is not part of the ecodove toolkit. Ecodoves strive to share information based on research and scientific study. We will reference predictive models, which sometimes have frightening conclusions, but we will aim to do so in a way that provides appropriate context for the interpretation of those predictions, and without sensationalizing any doomsday predictions for the purposes of driving higher readership.
2 – We are respectful of our community and leave the judgments at the door.
We all have different definitions and priorities in our sustainability journeys. We respect the individual nature of every ecodove journey and let our community members be their individual selves without fear of judgment. While we share similar values when it comes to leaving our environment better than we found it, that does not mean we will choose the same path (or even agree on what the appropriate paths are). As we are all on different journeys towards living more sustainably, we will respect the right to hold different opinions. Ecodoves approach disagreement in peaceful, agreeable, and respectful ways. A different opinion is a learning opportunity, not an opportunity to put someone down.
3 – We inform, but we stop short of telling people how to act or what to do.
Each ecodove will face different constraints in his or her sustainability journey. They may be related to budget, priorities, lived experience, or any myriad of other factors. All sustainability decisions involve compromise, and we accept that members of our community will take different actions based on how they interpret those compromises. We will aim to inform decisions and actions, but not put pressure on our community members to follow the crowd. Each decision and action is an individual decision.