I love it when I discover people who have already clearly articulated an idea that has been formulating slowly–painstakingly–in my mind for months. The whole rationale for our parenting pledge (becoming political activists, reducing our footprint, and raising environmentally conscious kids) has developed over months, and is still not as clear as it could be. Especially given how dire the climate situation is, I often think to myself: surely someone has already articulated the argument for making fighting climate change a part of everyday life?
Thankfully, I stumbled across two such arguments in the form of a pair of Ted Talks.
The first is a talk by an economist and social scientist named Per Espen Stokness. He argues that the way most people concerned about climate change discuss the issue vacillates between using language that is unhelpfully technical and wildly apocalyptic. Therefore, people either fail to engage because the issue seems technical and boring at one extreme, or overwhelming and futile at the other. Instead, he argues for–wait for it–finding ways to talk about climate change that are immediate, hopeful, and rooted in the collective future we all wish to share. In short, he argues for making climate more relevant to our everyday consciousness. Sound familiar?
The second is from none other than a 16 year-old girl named Greta Thunberg. I’m not exactly sure what it says that my view of climate change and how we should react so often dovetails with how children see the issue. Maybe that’s because I spend more time than I’d like to admit, especially lying awake at night, trying to imagine what the world will be like when our kids are my age. The clarity of her thinking and earnestness of her plea is heartbreaking. She starts by being very logical. If we can mostly agree on some facts about climate. And those facts suggest we are changing our environment for the worse. And those changes mean we will live in a future like the ones depicted in dystopian movies about years to come. If all these things are true, and if one follows the other–why aren’t we acting? Why aren’t we out protesting in the streets? Barnstorming political offices? Fighting with all we have?
The quote that is the title of this blog came from Greta. Our family’s belief is that making lifestyle changes to reduce our footprint isn’t just about lowering our emissions. It’s about preventing ourselves from forgetting what’s at stake, so that we will battle as if climate change is the fight of our lives–which it is. And our family has already realized that, once we begin the journey, once we see that change is possible, that there is something to be done, then the challenges still seem overwhelming, but not insurmountable.
Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.
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