Personal conservation habits can become a spiritual practice, helping us to increase our kindness, compassion, and tolerance, as well as become more effective activists.
This idea came to my attention while I was writing my book DEEP GREEN. I became aware that the small daily actions I do around the house to conserve resources are not only an eco action. They are also, for me, a spiritual practice.
For me, a spiritual practice has two essential components:
1) Inner: Quiets my mind, keeps me grounded and centered, grateful, reverent.
2) Outer: Keeps me energized and motivated to keep going out into the world and help however I can.
Recently I gave a talk at my church (Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ormond Beach) on this topic of eco actions as a spiritual practice. You can listen to the audio recording here.