Searching for consistency

According to our respondents, it is important that their engagement be credible in the eyes of those around them. They then seek to express their engagement in different spaces in a coherent way: at home with their parents, with their family, grandparents, uncles and aunts, with their friends, of course, and even in rarer situations, when travelling, for example. But, displaying one’s values in all the situations encountered is not always easy because, often, it is possible to meet people who are far from agreeing with you!

A problem therefore arises: displaying one’s values on the one hand and, asserting oneself at all times, on the other hand, implies multiplying the risks of disagreements! We therefore speak of consistency “work” because it takes a lot of time, energy and motivation to achieve it.

Have you ever noticed that this consistency requirement also affects how one expresses oneself on social media?

The development of social networks has led many people to believe that, on the internet, it is possible to be “someone else”, to create a new personality, a new story… Yet, every day we also see the opposite!

Our study showed that environmentally committed individuals also seek consistency between what they display of their online and offline engagement; and that there is therefore a continuity between the two universes, digital and physical.

Do you try to flaunt your various engagements both on social media and in everyday life?

Ensuring that your actions are always in line with your values is not always easy. This requires constant work, and sometimes even efforts to justify them. It may be, as several young people have told us, that people around you point out what they consider to be contradictions in you. However, it is normal to sometimes experience a shift, because constantly adapting to different contexts, at school, at home, with different groups of friends, requires a lot of energy and effort! If you feel like this, be assured that you are not alone; many young people have told us about this difficulty in interviews.

For several respondents, there is a hierarchy of values. Sometimes, it is about respect for the culture of the other which takes precedence over their ecological values as you will see in the section “voice of young people” with the example of Alexandre. The context had led him to temporarily put his ecological practices aside. Our examples show that despite this desire to always be consistent with one’s values, there are situations in which this consistency is not often achieved. Does that mean that person is not engaged? Or that they’re not plausible?

Not in their view, because what makes the engagement is not always being perfectly consistent with one’s ecological values, but rather to aim, while respecting others, towards more coherence…

Have you ever felt negative emotions (guilt, stress, fear) in a situation where you were unable to apply your ecological practices?

According to sociologist Geoffrey Pleyers, engagement is now experienced as a source of self-realization and an opportunity for experimentation. But the journey of engagement does not always lead to fulfillment. Several young people in our survey told us about different forms of suffering: fatigue, stress, fear, guilt… This does not appear in all those involved in environmental causes and concerns, only a part of our respondents.

What our study has enabled us to understand is that several factors can lead to these forms of suffering: an overload of “work” for people who are part of an ecological movement, a feeling of inefficiency in collective actions, an overflow of responsibility and above all, the constant search for consistency and perfection in one’s engagement. Here we will focus on this last factor.

We have previously explained to you that some people committed to ecology do not always succeed in implementing ecological practices. In reaction to this, some do not feel negative emotions and accept the fact that there is a limit in ecological engagement. On the other hand, for others, it is more difficult to accept. This is how forms of suffering (such as guilt) can appear.

However, it is important to take into consideration that in ecological engagement, perfection does not exist and that it is necessary to detach oneself from the performance standards that ensue from it. Ecological engagement therefore has limits.

• On the one hand, because contemporary and Western society does not yet provide an ideal context to be constantly consistent with one’s ecological values. Accepting this limit can help avoid a form of suffering.

• On the other hand, there is a personal limit. Individual skills, knowledge, free time and energy, do indeed form personal limits for the degree of engagement that can be achieved. In order to avoid any form of suffering, it may be interesting here to identify one’s own limits and find a balance between well-being and environmental impact.