I struggle not to throw up all my feelings about climate change and biodiversity loss all over this comment thread...I have so many feelings. It can be very overwhelming so I look out for successes from my community, my state, and the world.
The two things that are keeping the WALL-E grief/anxiety at bay are:
- sharing my knowledge of native plants and gardening with anyone who asks and actually sharing plants with them!
and
- leading a brand new conservation club for the 4th graders at my school. When I first told them about the club, 60% of the 4th graders signed up - they are sooo excited to learn about ways to help Earth, nature, and our school community. Fills me with joy and hope :)
Doing what I can where I am and continuing to learn what others are doing gives me hope.
I'm the executive director of a nonprofit that works with communities on climate resilience issues. Everything from land conservation, to education and training, to ecological restoration. I have plenty of stories of effects happening right now. Flooding is a huge issue for Maryland since we have so much coastline.
The main barrier is that we live in a capitalist society where every solution needs to be another revenue stream, including trash. There are always tradeoffs... and the marketing around the "greener" options encourages people to feel like consumption is ok, to keep buying or even buy more!
I still turn off my light switches, regardless of if the electricity comes from nuclear or coal. The global economy is a hungry hungry hippo I am not super excited about feeding. I wish I could opt out and live in a small self-sufficient community.
Distrubing all the causal references to "natural gas". Natural gas is predominantly methane. In fact, some climate scientists use them interchangeably. It is a marketing ploy to call it "natural".
Enjoy your show as the topics are usually so well researched. Your coverage on climate change was somewhat pedestrian and not novel and sounded like a parroting of main street media talking points. Climate change - and all the affiliated environmental issues - like microplastics, would become a primary issue for voters with the proper marketing. Look at the MAHA movement.
Can we stop talking about "meeting voters where they are"? Trump doesn't meet voters where they are; he convinces them to be where he is. Voters did not care so much about transgender M to F playing in women sports, until Trump had ads playing nonstop, showing a little girl in pigtails trying to stop a large (allegedly) transgender women from dunking a basketball.
We can convince voters to be more concerned about our climate. Where are the ads showing homes burning, flooding, animals starving, losing their habitats and all the childhood sickness from pesticides, herbicides? It is a marketing challenge. Dems need to educate voters so they care more about the environment.
I work for a Public Utilities Commission, so I have some thoughts on that topic. One of our challenges is that the work we do is complex and involves making a lot of difficult trade-offs. We need to balance safety, reliability, affordability, and GHG emissions reductions, and those goals are in constant tension. Understanding those trade-offs requires sustained concentration, and that's a scarce resource in today's attention economy. Also, there are a lot of people muddying the waters. We make decisions that have billions of dollars in real world impacts, and there are a lot of people who have an interest in either spreading misinformation or casting aspersions on our motives to try to get what they want. And that is not limited to the right. I live in a liberal state, and most of the noise I personally see in my work comes from the left. Some groups create a plausible (but incorrect) narrative and shop it around to a sympathetic press and public who don't tend to question a "green" narrative or one in which the utilities are nefarious. (And I'm not saying utilities can't be nefarious, but they are also a very convenient scapegoat.) Lastly, not only is our work "boring" and requires sustained attention to understand, we are also very constrained in how we talk about it. We have to be very diplomatic and neutral in public, and we also have access to a lot of confidential information that we can't disclose publicly to support our actions. But people who want to disparage us can say whatever inflammatory thing they damn well please. So, I don't have any objection to people spending their retirement years learning more about the processes and issues being dealt with by Public Utilities Commissions. Just don't be surprised to learn that reality is a lot more complex and nuanced than what you've read in the press.
FYI, a big part of why electricity bills are going up, as Sarah mentioned, is because the cost of those voracious AI data centers is being passed on to us.
A note on things that have improved: rural people know that a couple generations ago it was totally normal for country folks to just pile their trash in a pit on the back 40! I hear so many stories still of people buying rural properties and having to excavate 50 year old piles of trash out of the ground where they want to garden or whatever! Thank God we don’t do that anymore, although landfills also make me depressed, (Wall-E will live forever rent free in my head) so I don’t think we have a solution to the trash problem yet… and this is why climate discussions are so hard!
My dad talks about how it was his job to burn their trash and he especially loved when my grandfather got done with his deodorant (I think?) because it was an aerosol can and it exploded. I’ve also started burning our paper trash. It’s weirdly fun. Highly recommend.
The outside of politics Junk Journaling reminded me of a small business sticker shop in Cincinnati! They are having a Junk Journaling 101 event this Thursday
Another point about recycling: my city stopped their recycling program at the beginning of the year. Most people were very upset. The city claimed most of it was contaminated and had to be dumped anyway. So a couple of guys started a recycling business and its slowing expanded over the summer. It’s $25/month and they pick up and sort once per week. They also provide 2 bins. I love it and appreciate they saw the need and desire and took the initiative. BUT… people are so upset and resistant to join because the city did not reduce our monthly garbage fee with the reduction in services. I get it. But at the same time, are we recycling in an effort to do good or because it appeared to be “free” when included in city services? Drives me crazy to see the garbage cans full of recyclables! I want to dig through and put it in my bins!
Hi! I haven’t even listened to the episode yet but I’m wondering if it was Maggie or Alise that penned the post? For no other reason than I want to know who’s adorable mom is in the photo
Same. I recycle and compost and buy secondhand and just generally try to not have much trash. But it feels futile in the face of all of these huge corporations and data centers that we know are accelerating the problem and an administration that isn’t going to hold them accountable for anything.
I go to that Indianapolis church that was mentioned (or at least an Indianapolis church that talks about this in a similar way). It is framed as one of what church calls “the six broken places”. We do a sermon series annually focusing on one of each of the broken places that culminates in a day of service focused around that broken place. The year that was “decay” my husband and I went to a local park and helped to clear out invasive species. It’s one of the reasons we love our church because they don’t fall neatly into what churches are supposed to say or along left/right lines. Which can be hard when there are many more churches just around the corner that will stick to the talking points and not ask the hard questions.
I pulled this from a devotional that went along with this sermon series:
Day 5: Decay
What Is It?
Creation is not what it once was. If we look, we are surrounded by decay. Polluted oceans, deforestation, to distrust in institutions and the breakdown of communities as a whole. Decay could be defined as the fading of what God once called good. It is the loss of what once was alive.
He created the earth with intention and care. We were given the earth to tend and protect, but we have neglected that calling. Bit by bit we have watched the world wither under our care in pursuit of convenience and control.
How We Begin to Heal
To heal decay, we must commit to repentance and restoration. This can look like creation care: consume less, plant more, live gently. Also, it can look like the renewal of what has been forgotten: investing in broken communities, advocating for the marginalized, and preservation of what is beautiful.
Studies have shown that when people hear only the apocalyptic stuff, they figure there is nothing they can do about climate change and completely give up. That is why many scientists are now doing more to get publicity in mainstream news sources about success stories and promising approaches. Climate change is a serious issue, but there are also many things we can do to help mitigate it if there is buy-in and money allocated to it. When people were hearing that the planet was going to burn up by 2050 or whatever, it was difficult to commit to any work. Of course, now the Trump Administration has cut science funding, but at least the rest of the world is working on it. :-(
I struggle not to throw up all my feelings about climate change and biodiversity loss all over this comment thread...I have so many feelings. It can be very overwhelming so I look out for successes from my community, my state, and the world.
The two things that are keeping the WALL-E grief/anxiety at bay are:
- sharing my knowledge of native plants and gardening with anyone who asks and actually sharing plants with them!
and
- leading a brand new conservation club for the 4th graders at my school. When I first told them about the club, 60% of the 4th graders signed up - they are sooo excited to learn about ways to help Earth, nature, and our school community. Fills me with joy and hope :)
Doing what I can where I am and continuing to learn what others are doing gives me hope.
Have you thought about doing an episode on “Abundance”? I’d love to hear a discussion on it.
I'm the executive director of a nonprofit that works with communities on climate resilience issues. Everything from land conservation, to education and training, to ecological restoration. I have plenty of stories of effects happening right now. Flooding is a huge issue for Maryland since we have so much coastline.
The main barrier is that we live in a capitalist society where every solution needs to be another revenue stream, including trash. There are always tradeoffs... and the marketing around the "greener" options encourages people to feel like consumption is ok, to keep buying or even buy more!
Waste Colonialism: A Brief History | Earth.Org https://share.google/0p6Ei1tT7YVxDsJHA
I still turn off my light switches, regardless of if the electricity comes from nuclear or coal. The global economy is a hungry hungry hippo I am not super excited about feeding. I wish I could opt out and live in a small self-sufficient community.
Distrubing all the causal references to "natural gas". Natural gas is predominantly methane. In fact, some climate scientists use them interchangeably. It is a marketing ploy to call it "natural".
Enjoy your show as the topics are usually so well researched. Your coverage on climate change was somewhat pedestrian and not novel and sounded like a parroting of main street media talking points. Climate change - and all the affiliated environmental issues - like microplastics, would become a primary issue for voters with the proper marketing. Look at the MAHA movement.
Can we stop talking about "meeting voters where they are"? Trump doesn't meet voters where they are; he convinces them to be where he is. Voters did not care so much about transgender M to F playing in women sports, until Trump had ads playing nonstop, showing a little girl in pigtails trying to stop a large (allegedly) transgender women from dunking a basketball.
We can convince voters to be more concerned about our climate. Where are the ads showing homes burning, flooding, animals starving, losing their habitats and all the childhood sickness from pesticides, herbicides? It is a marketing challenge. Dems need to educate voters so they care more about the environment.
This episode was a great pair with the latest Culture Study episode on the "manosphere" and climate change!
I work for a Public Utilities Commission, so I have some thoughts on that topic. One of our challenges is that the work we do is complex and involves making a lot of difficult trade-offs. We need to balance safety, reliability, affordability, and GHG emissions reductions, and those goals are in constant tension. Understanding those trade-offs requires sustained concentration, and that's a scarce resource in today's attention economy. Also, there are a lot of people muddying the waters. We make decisions that have billions of dollars in real world impacts, and there are a lot of people who have an interest in either spreading misinformation or casting aspersions on our motives to try to get what they want. And that is not limited to the right. I live in a liberal state, and most of the noise I personally see in my work comes from the left. Some groups create a plausible (but incorrect) narrative and shop it around to a sympathetic press and public who don't tend to question a "green" narrative or one in which the utilities are nefarious. (And I'm not saying utilities can't be nefarious, but they are also a very convenient scapegoat.) Lastly, not only is our work "boring" and requires sustained attention to understand, we are also very constrained in how we talk about it. We have to be very diplomatic and neutral in public, and we also have access to a lot of confidential information that we can't disclose publicly to support our actions. But people who want to disparage us can say whatever inflammatory thing they damn well please. So, I don't have any objection to people spending their retirement years learning more about the processes and issues being dealt with by Public Utilities Commissions. Just don't be surprised to learn that reality is a lot more complex and nuanced than what you've read in the press.
FYI, a big part of why electricity bills are going up, as Sarah mentioned, is because the cost of those voracious AI data centers is being passed on to us.
A note on things that have improved: rural people know that a couple generations ago it was totally normal for country folks to just pile their trash in a pit on the back 40! I hear so many stories still of people buying rural properties and having to excavate 50 year old piles of trash out of the ground where they want to garden or whatever! Thank God we don’t do that anymore, although landfills also make me depressed, (Wall-E will live forever rent free in my head) so I don’t think we have a solution to the trash problem yet… and this is why climate discussions are so hard!
My dad talks about how it was his job to burn their trash and he especially loved when my grandfather got done with his deodorant (I think?) because it was an aerosol can and it exploded. I’ve also started burning our paper trash. It’s weirdly fun. Highly recommend.
The outside of politics Junk Journaling reminded me of a small business sticker shop in Cincinnati! They are having a Junk Journaling 101 event this Thursday
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/junk-journaling-101-tickets-1708663331019?aff=oddtdtcreator&fbclid=PAb21jcANcsAlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABpxXY3qK6aU_mNlG7zflDcBGYJ6xUaaR3mZUZzvXkb6UujhIhtDlKyXd8oLmu_aem_5P-MlQeNVYG-7mM85DJxpQ
Another point about recycling: my city stopped their recycling program at the beginning of the year. Most people were very upset. The city claimed most of it was contaminated and had to be dumped anyway. So a couple of guys started a recycling business and its slowing expanded over the summer. It’s $25/month and they pick up and sort once per week. They also provide 2 bins. I love it and appreciate they saw the need and desire and took the initiative. BUT… people are so upset and resistant to join because the city did not reduce our monthly garbage fee with the reduction in services. I get it. But at the same time, are we recycling in an effort to do good or because it appeared to be “free” when included in city services? Drives me crazy to see the garbage cans full of recyclables! I want to dig through and put it in my bins!
I’m on creation care ministry in my church. Just because it’s a big world doesn’t mean it’s not worth it to do what is in our power to do .
Creation care ministry…. Oh I love that so so much!!!! What if all churches had this?? What kind of good we could do.
Hi! I haven’t even listened to the episode yet but I’m wondering if it was Maggie or Alise that penned the post? For no other reason than I want to know who’s adorable mom is in the photo
I forgot to tag myself! It's my adorable mom!!!!
“I’ll use a paper straw when Exxon deals with their business” not sure why but this resonated with deep in my soul!
Same. I recycle and compost and buy secondhand and just generally try to not have much trash. But it feels futile in the face of all of these huge corporations and data centers that we know are accelerating the problem and an administration that isn’t going to hold them accountable for anything.
I go to that Indianapolis church that was mentioned (or at least an Indianapolis church that talks about this in a similar way). It is framed as one of what church calls “the six broken places”. We do a sermon series annually focusing on one of each of the broken places that culminates in a day of service focused around that broken place. The year that was “decay” my husband and I went to a local park and helped to clear out invasive species. It’s one of the reasons we love our church because they don’t fall neatly into what churches are supposed to say or along left/right lines. Which can be hard when there are many more churches just around the corner that will stick to the talking points and not ask the hard questions.
I pulled this from a devotional that went along with this sermon series:
Day 5: Decay
What Is It?
Creation is not what it once was. If we look, we are surrounded by decay. Polluted oceans, deforestation, to distrust in institutions and the breakdown of communities as a whole. Decay could be defined as the fading of what God once called good. It is the loss of what once was alive.
He created the earth with intention and care. We were given the earth to tend and protect, but we have neglected that calling. Bit by bit we have watched the world wither under our care in pursuit of convenience and control.
How We Begin to Heal
To heal decay, we must commit to repentance and restoration. This can look like creation care: consume less, plant more, live gently. Also, it can look like the renewal of what has been forgotten: investing in broken communities, advocating for the marginalized, and preservation of what is beautiful.
Studies have shown that when people hear only the apocalyptic stuff, they figure there is nothing they can do about climate change and completely give up. That is why many scientists are now doing more to get publicity in mainstream news sources about success stories and promising approaches. Climate change is a serious issue, but there are also many things we can do to help mitigate it if there is buy-in and money allocated to it. When people were hearing that the planet was going to burn up by 2050 or whatever, it was difficult to commit to any work. Of course, now the Trump Administration has cut science funding, but at least the rest of the world is working on it. :-(