Perfect vegans are good, imperfect vegetarians are better

Perfect vegans are good, imperfect vegetarians are better

A few perfect vegans are good, a bunch of imperfect vegetarians are better

Me: The Imperfect Climate Activist

The value of imperfect climate activists

Let’s all be imperfectionists

The importance of imperfectionism

Why imperfectionism is important 

The importance of imperfectionism

Show Me One Perfect Climate Activist

I hesitate to write this column. I hesitate to write it, and even more to publish it, because it will reveal me as a person who is concerned about climate change. 

But isn’t that something to be proud of - not ashamed? Don’t we need more people engaged in this battle, not fewer? 

Here’s the deal. The moment I take some kind of action, whether I’m choosing plant-based food or taking classes about the issue, I immediately feel like I am held to a different standard: the standard of the “Perfect Climate Activist.”

Don’t get me wrong! To some extent, this is great. We should all strive to do better, as individuals and as economic and professional actors. Obviously, individual recycling alone will not keep the planet from destruction. Many, including myself, see the need for a systemic change, and we should look for individual behavioral adjustments while also working on those more complex changes. I don’t disagree with this at all. What’s frightening and counterproductive is the perfectionist narrative, which I believe discourages individual initiatives. 

I know that many of us are trying to fight climate change in one way or another, and that we are developing ways to mitigate impacts and adapt to shifting realities. This is necessary work, but the narrative of the Perfect Climate Activist tells me vegetarianism isn’t enough and that I should go vegan, and that the pair of new runners I bought to avoid injuring my knees are supporting the kind of consumerism that we all need to abandon. This narrative, at least for me, becomes audible around dinner tables, on campus, and on social media. 

Obviously, vegetarianism isn’t enough, and my new Nikes are contributing to the widespread unsustainable pattern of overconsumption. I know that, and I think we all do. But when we condemn people who are trying to be good for not being perfect, it gets harder to reach the people who aren’t trying at all. 

Consciously or not, we are probably all guilty of reproducing the Perfect Climate Activist narrative, because it’s easier to get at someone who is engaged than at someone who is uninformed and apathetic. The key to a meaningful behavioural shift, however, requires change at scale; quality is good, but quantity is better. 

Rather than a few perfect zero-wasting vegans, the world needs a bunch of imperfect vegetarians who are recycling to the best of their ability. Instead of aiming for individual perfection, we must welcome everybody’s contributions. If people trying to take action are held to flawless standards, people who eat steak every night for dinner and travel in their private jets won’t even bother to get involved in the efforts. 

I’m not trying to discount the value of changing our behavior. In fact, we probably need to do this in a more profound way than we can even imagine - beyond both veganism and zero waste. The need for systemic changes to our economy and society is urgent, and while striving towards those changes we should do what we can as individuals. We should educate ourselves and each other, we should think twice about every decision we make, and we should try to get as many people on board as possible. This is not made through exclusion by reproducing the narrative of the Perfect Climate Activist.

I am concerned about climate change, and I have now made this concern explicit.Yes, I am a vegetarian aiming to eat more vegan. Yes, during my 22 years on our planet, I have contributed to emitting tons of greenhouse gases by eating, travelling, and breathing. 

I’m not perfect, but I’m trying.