Sign up for one of the Lexus Retreats in Motion programs, and you’ll hear Foer’s perspective on how individuals can move the needle in terms of climate change, how to facilitate an intimate relationship with nature, and what we’ve gotten wrong when it comes to talking about diet. With the latter, he notes, “When it becomes a question of identity, people become afraid. Most people are not ready to make a pretty dramatic identity shift, and it’s not because they’re bad or ignorant or lazy. It’s scary to depart from habits.” Meaning, most people identify with their nutrition choices—be it vegan, vegetarian, keto, or something else entirely—which makes the choice seem like a bigger lifestyle shift than it needs to be. “We need to make a shift away from an all-or-nothing choice to wanting our universal values reflected in our daily actions,” he adds. He closes with advice on how to stay motivated when things feel overwhelming or too complex to handle: The ticket, says Safran Foer, is to create a concrete plan you know you’ll stick to. “I really revere the kind of person who says, ‘I’m going to eat vegan two days a week,’ [as opposed to], ‘I’m going to eat vegetarian the rest of the time unless my friends serve me meat,’” he explains. He also suggests approaching issues one at a time—there’s no reason to reinvent multiple wheels, here. There’s a multitude of concerns you may have (understandably so; saving the planet is a complex issue!), but he urges you to do your best to compartmentalize. “Navigating competing concerns takes not only a kind of intelligence, but it’s risky,” he says. “It’s risky to say, ‘This matters to me now, but this also matters to me now.’” To hit all your goals, approach them one by one—a mantra you can apply to any facet of your life, really. That way, tackling even the biggest issues won’t feel as daunting.
