Change Comes from Being Bothered
Written by: Sarah Campbell
Photo by: Sarah Campbell
If you have not been thinking about the climate crisis for a while, you should be! Be bothered by it, make it an issue you have to deal with daily, that’s how change is made.
I recently attended a Peer Education training program provided by SMU Residence Life, and in that 6-hour long session, despite the engaging presentation with a variety of activities, I confess I drifted off to La La Land a few times. No shame, mind wondering, according to first-year psych classes, fosters creative inspiration and improves one’s ability to solve problems; so, I was still on my A-game while roaming through my thread of thoughts during the presentation.
While the Ted talk was playing in the slightly too chilly room, something the speaker said caught my attention and yanked me out of the classroom, sat me down, looked me in the eye and said, “now let’s discuss this”.
“We’ve only really talked about the issues we have to navigate every day,” that was what the speaker said that took me to an imaginary discussion room.
It is a far stretch, but from the Ted talk The Importance of Intersectional Accessibility in Activism, I somehow managed to connect the dots to the Climate Crisis; more specifically to how we have been numb to this situation and how we can make it a point to be bothered by it.
We surround ourselves with the information and people that affect our lives and exclude those which don’t. For example, if we care about Indigenous rights and have no clue how hokey works, then we would be well informed in Indigenous rights topics and surround ourselves with the current issues and therefore become more knowledgeable and indulged int the topic. Tying back to my discussion with myself, if the climate crisis has affected my life in some way, I would be constantly thinking about it and therefore make some kind of change to my lifestyle.
Yet for so many, climate change has not landed a big enough effect on their daily lives so they simply toss this on-going crisis out of our heads. For example, how many of us think about our water usage when taking a shower? Another minute of the hot water running down our spine and there go two gallons of water, which would be one-sixth of the daily usage during the water restriction in Cape Town. Or do we think about the impact of tossing our banana peels in the garbage instead of the compost? Discarding it to the landfill will result in producing harmful greenhouse gasses “Food is a significant source of methane gas, which has 21x the global warming potential of CO2!”
We rarely think about these things, but they should hit the top lists of “what to worry about today”, alongside “Acing Chem midterm”. We should be as concerned about creating a sustainable living space for our future, as we are about keeping up our good grades.
So here I am, sitting on the chair in my imaginary discussion room, pondering about how I can be cautious about what I surround my immediate life with, so I can be bothered by the climate crisis and live a more sustainable lifestyle. I did my research and here are some actions you can take on today!
1. Hold on to the reusables: Bring a bag while shopping, throw in a cutlery set in your bag, bring your own cup and containers when you go out to eat.
2. Junglize your room with greenery: Just surrounding yourself with plants can lift your mood, for more benefits you can read the article NASA Guide to a Fresher Year with Plant Buddies - A glimpse of Houseplants.
3. Turn off lights and taps: Make it a habit to always shut the lights when you leave a room and close the tap when you’re not using it. Do it often enough and it will become second nature just like how you say “bless you” after someone sneezes.
4. Wash clothes in cold water and air dry them: About 90% of the energy used in washing clothes goes into heating the water. Also, line drying clothes can save money, increase humidity and also save energy.
5. Buy second hand: Thrift shopping is not only trendy but also a sustainable way to shop. There are lots of online thrift shops (@fiends_co, @theloothfx, @dapper.hfx, @_thehasbin, @fullcircle_finds) along with Buy and Sell Facebook pages.
6. Seek for products with less packaging: A tip is to shop in the outer layer of the grocery store, that is where the whole foods sections are, and bring your own bags to put the fruits, veggies and pastries in.
7. Challenge yourself: Make it a challenge to dispose of less garbage, go 30 days without plastic, try a different diet or try to shop ethically.
8. Keep up with the Joneses: Stay informed about the climate crisis, follow a climate activist’s Instagram page, maneuver the topic in your conversations with your friends, plan a Netflix-and-watch climate education-series, attend workshops, or become a member of the SMU Environmental Society and follow their Facebook page.