Thank you for this thoughtful and inspiring post, Jennifer. There is so much individuals can do to reduce their footprint, but it will take major collective political action to stop the greatest polluters, the billionaires and their mind-boggling life styles, the military war machine, and multi-national corporations that overrule the politics and interests of smaller nations. BTW, I also just recently posted my art work as an attempt to reduce my climate anxiety: https://annettenaber.substack.com/p/creating-sanctuary-playfully-and
AGREED on the bigger entities, I just hope more people — at an individual level — start to realize it HAS to start with our actual behavior. Because right now we’re supporting those larger systems of which you speak with our daily/weekly/yearly investments in fossil fuel with our own lifestyles… so the corporations are incentivized to keep politicians in line with their (growing!!) profits. Until we change our behaviors and where we spend our money, I don’t suspect there will be enough pressure for politicians to do much of anything…sadly.
I love your post! We do also desperately need that balance of sanctuary… and I love hearing more and more people talking about finding it in art!
You are right, Jennifer - if millions, tens of millions, of households make similar earth-friendly choices, we will have a huge impact on corporations. AND we can't wait for these larger entities to make changes. We are so close to some major tipping points that are likely irreversible, so we need to work all fronts. An exhausting and sometimes demoralizing process, but we can't stop...
On an individual level, there are people who are well aware of the issues, will buy their Prius and adopt a few other sustainable practices but then buy several plane tickets a year, or worse, organize trips that involve groups of other people to fly to a certain location. I have not bought a plane ticket since 2018 (COVID helped) but now I want to see a few places in the world that will be changed irreversibly before long. It will be extremely challenging to get there without flying and I am really conflicted and wondering how I can find a way to do my traveling but connect it up with something that will have a major beneficial impact - just spending tourist dollars is not sufficient. And I think many of us have similar dilemmas beyond the easier daily practices and routines that decrease our footprints.
Ugh I feel EXACTLY the same about your whole second paragraph!! So much personal conflict about *desperately* wanting to travel to those places before they're gone (and watching so many friends travel is making me feel even more conflict, given how much each trip means to the global carbon budget we have left... it's depressing as hell).
Re: your first paragraph, I think the trick is to realize the "tens of millions" are made up of each of us. That's how voting works... and we vote with our dollars in this case.
The way I think of it is this: for every decision *I* make that I go a bit out of my way to do something for the planet that may have been easier another way, I know there are countless others making the same decision (and same holds for every time I take the easy way out, that there are countless others making that same decision). It makes me FEEL the amplification of a choice (I think the same thing when I brave up to call a senator or representative -- that if even *I* am finding the nerve to make that call, others are finding it in themselves at that same time). IT HELPS!! It helps me feel my impact is more than just a single drop in the ocean.
And that's why I feel like we need to believe in what we're doing, and SPREAD THE WORD. If I can convince one or two people to make one or two new habits, and they can convince one or two people, and they can convince... that's how it happens. So here's to it! And THANK YOU for joining not just the efforts, but the conversation as well :)
Love this, Jennifer. COVID has made me a non-flyer (do NOT want to be trapped in a floating tin can with people who don't know how to act). I haven't had red meat since Live Aid. I bring my own bags (and if I forget and can't carry it all, I buy another effing bag...pretty rare these days, but I've learned). I try to make sure I don't drive on Saturdays (about 97.5% successful at that), and walk as much as possible for small errands/going to lunches/dinners. I don't have AC, so I'm used to being warmer in the summer and don't really enjoy overly AC'd places. Would love to trade in my car for something electric (as soon as I can afford that), but keep my commutes to the absolute minimum (and happily have a WFH schedule for August). I gave up single-use plastics years ago, have silicone bags to replace Ziplocs, silicone covers for fruit and veg halves/ends, a glass water bottle I use daily and a collapsible silicone one for day trips. Aluminum foil is washable so, if it must be used, use it more than once. All of these changes are doable, and there's probably more I can do (always willing to learn). Like DON'T SIT IN YOUR IDLING CAR WHILE ON THE PHONE OR TO "CHARGE" YOUR PHONE OR TO USE THE AC! Such a pet peeve of mine. Such a planet killer. Ugh! You rule, Jennifer! xo
OMG idling is SUCH a peeve of mine (and has been for at least twenty years!! Also f*cking leaf blowers — WHY?!) Interestingly in one of the footnotes about aviation there’s data on how COVID effected aviation and global emissions… if there was a silver lining to the pandemic, we learned a lot about rapid adaptation, the effects of a lot of industry on climate, etc. And aviation is definitely still bouncing back (although by social media it would appear that the majority of my own peers seem to be on planes this week — case in point for how privilege is contributing keeping emissions on track to worsen the problem — it sucks because I’d also love to fly to visit a glacier before it’s gone, but… ).
Anyway I love and appreciate all the things you’re doing (same ones here, sisters for sure!) As an fyi, aluminum foil is actually one of the easiest things to recycle (that said, I’ve also been using the same little piece for at least a year — ha!)
Thank you, as always, for sharing your thoughts over in this little space!! Xoxo
I love how creating nature-inspired art is a part of reducing the climate anxiety for you. And I think sharing that kind of art can help people remember why nature is so important because it touches us in a different part of our experience than just words about it may.
YES… that last thought is so important. It’s funny because as I started writing this I knew I wanted to paint that exact little painting to go with it — because of something I can’t articulate about the ephemeral beauty of a glacier I haven’t even seen with my own eyes, but long to.
I know... it's part of a profound conflict I feel right now living in the city -- I manage to find trees and bugs and squirrels in every day, but I miss wild NATURE desperately. And it's hard to get to without fossil fuels so I have to plan special train trips that are a little more complicated to places that still aren't quite as remote as I'd like!
My sister and I joke that she is country mouse and I am city mouse because she loves her remote life in West Virginia and I stagnate there and love my urban life in San Francisco. But one of the things I also love about San Francisco is that it's really easy to find snippets of nature thanks to all of our many parks and beaches ... and it's relatively easy to get to places that offer different types of nature as well.
Oh man, San Francisco is one of those places I'd live in a heartbeat (feels like the best of all the worlds I want rolled into one location!)... if I could afford it! Denver's downtown has a few very tiny snippets of "nature" near me (I go out of my way to wander through them every day!) but has a lot of work to do to re-forest areas and bring more nature into lower-income areas... I want to get involved in advocating for that somehow... but it's tricky because we are ALSO drought-prone so watering new trees is always a contentious discussion.
That is tricky. San francisco has had a rule for decades that any building they put up over a certain height has to add a public space which is usually a green space so that helps us a lot
that's certainly a big part of it!! Thank you for reading and being part of the solution -- I always thought one day I could escape to your part of the world but it's looking like the PNW is feeling the heat in a big way, too (like everywhere else).
We love it here and we’d love to have you! Even though it’s been hot here too, it hasn’t been as hot as in some other places. The PNW will most likely have to deal with an influx of climate refugees and it will be interesting to see how they deal with that. Washington just received 25$M in federal grants to help with wildfire mitigation over the next few years, which is great. But it would be nice if they came up with solutions that deal with the main crisis rather than the symptoms of it…
Yep we all need to push all of our local legislators on those larger solutions… how are public transportation options around there, in general? Wherever I go next I’m pretty sure being able to not have a car is a deal-breaker… in my dream-location, I’d love a train stop within a mile of giant trees :)
Public transport options are abundant if you live in Seattle proper, I'm not sure about the surrounding areas. The city is actively expanding the light rail, which is a great way to get around the city! Also there are tons of cyclists here and Seattle is extremely bike-friendly. You can easily hop onto a train to go to Vancouver or Portland as well.
Getting to the national parks is trickier without a vehicle because they're so remote but there are buses! In the summer you can also take a bus to get to hiking trails closer to Seattle. They're exceptionally good with public transportation for an American city ha!
The world needs more people like you!! And yes, for as long as I can survive without fan or AC (glad I easily get cold) I don't use them. Thank you for this call to action!
Well said, Jennifer. I think about the explosion in travel that's taken place once COVID restrictions were lifted, people so hungry to get out of their pandemic bubbles. In our excitement over travelling again, we don't tend to think about the impact we're having on the planet and on the places we're visiting. Many of the national parks, and some state parks and monuments have had to limit the number of visitors due to overcrowding and harsh impacts on the land. We're loving our parks to death, just as we're loving our planet to death through our travel choices. That's a hard pill to swallow. But we don't have to give up every pleasurable trip we'd like to go on. As you said, we can choose another mode of transportation to get there. Or maybe we could consider cutting some of the more impactful trips from our bucket lists.
I'm glad you mentioned water use. More and more people in the town I live in are getting rid of lawn and putting in low-water perennials. I swapped lawn for perennial plants and shrubs five years ago, in both the front and backyards. It's such a pleasure to walk through my garden and see the birds and butterflies that visit, not to mention all kinds of bees.
Your commitment to low impact choices is commendable and probably feels like too much to do for most of us. Let's acknowledge that. But, we don't have to commit to every single thing you've mentioned in order to have an impact. Eating less meat - if that's the only thing I think I can manage to do this year, it's still something! I see better health for myself, less impact on greenhouse gases, and less guilt for not doing enough. It would also put me in the mindset to look for more ways to have less impact on the planet. Five years ago, I made the commitment to use less water by removing our lawn. Three years ago, my husband and I decided we could use less AC in the summer and less heat in the winter. We have one car and "batch" errands so we're not running out to grab this or that every day. Are we willing to give up our car altogether? No, but we're limiting our use. This year we committed ourselves to eating less meat, adopting a more plant based diet. How are we doing in that goal? Terrible! It's hard to switch something so elemental to our daily lives. We like to eat meat. We hate being lectured by vegans about what bad people we are for eating meat. (That actually hasn't happened in a while, but you get my point. Lecturing people about their choices generally doesn't sway them to agree with you. Gently living your life with grace and intention, and sharing as Jennifer does here at Good Footprints, just might.) So Jennifer, my effort to eat less meat this year has been a dismal failure so far, but there are five months left to this year, and I love a good reset of my intentions. So here goes: I'm cutting back to one meat-based meal a week, and looking for more plant-based deliciousness to fill the rest of the week. And, attitude adjustment here: I plan to look at it as a discovery quest rather than a hardship I'm imposing on myself. Kind of like your painting. What's to discover in the palette of colorful vegetables and legumes that I have never tasted before?
ALSO... if anything comes of this kind of writing, a renewed commitment from anyone on any small thing (and meat is a BIG thing), means it's working... that's how momentum starts and builds upon itself! Thank you for all you do!!
Kendal I LOVE YOUR THOUGHTS HERE SO MUCH!! (sorry for all the caps but I just sat here smiling reading every word).
Yes watching the post-pandemic travel explosion has been extremely difficult for me to watch, and the "loving our national parks to death" is beyond depressing to me. Sadly, we have a limited global carbon budget left before we hit the tipping points to runaway warming. Watching so many people fly right now, my instinct (as silly as it sounds), is that since I can't change their behavior, I have to counter their consumption by doing even less (that certainly doesn't seem fair to me!) In case anyone is wondering, I, too, DESPERATELY want to hop on a plane and go visit glaciers before they're gone so I can paint them, but if everyone else keeps flying, my own dream seems even more selfish in contributing to the disappearance of those same glaciers. Ugh.
I love the choices you've made with regards to water! That's a hyper-local choice that has a much wider impact in a drought prone area. I didn't talk too much about water here because my subscribers are from all over the world (including non-drought prone areas), but it's worth noting that wherever we are, our informed local responses are incredibly important. And with the Colorado River drying up, we have a limited "water budget" like the globe has a limited carbon budget. I've also cut my showers way back and consolidate dishwashing (which is pretty easy since it's just me!)
On the meat thing, honestly I had no idea just how bad meat was until researching for this post. I've naturally moved away from it over the past decade. And good news -- when you get used to veggies, beans and other sources of protein, you start to discover HOW much flavor they pack and how they do make you feel healthier. Perhaps I'll share my favorite veggie based (not vegan) recipes in an upcoming post -- adding flavor/spice does go a long way. I'm not a purist on this topic, and going vegan would be really hard for me -- I love eggs, mozzerella and parmeggiano -- although I did recently kick dairy out of my coffee habit (I was a hard-core cappuccino lover but I've switched to black Americanos and once again, feel better for it).
Anyway, yes, I do acknowledge doing *everything* is not something everyone can do! I *also* think we've developed and accepted a narrative that doing these things is going to be hard (it's why we don't do them). But I'm here to say: it's not as hard as we all assume! That is my main point. The pandemic taught us we're more adaptable than we think. And we don't have to be purists. It's helpful to think about our choices like votes -- our daily votes don't have to be unanimous to win, if we cast a little more than half of them for a cause, we're moving in the right direction. And as "hard" as these choices might (or might not) be, watching cities get demolished in freakish floods, intensifying wildfires, strengthening hurricanes, etc., just seems harder to me.
I like to imagine that for every choice to consume one less flight / drive / burger, there's one more person somewhere who will live longer for that choice ❤️
Most of us can't (and won't) commit to every single thing we could do to try to save our planet from "the tipping point," which, honestly, it seems we've already passed. But rather than throw up our hands and say, "It's too late anyway, so I might as well live it up while I can," and "Other countries aren't living up to the Paris Accord, so why should we?" I prefer to think and act local, acknowledging that the big picture feels too overwhelming. Can I solve the issue of climate change and how it's impacting our coastlines, food supply, health and well-being? No. But I can use less water, drive less, let my congressmen and women know what's important to me, and change my eating habits, even a little bit. Doing small things, local things, is all that most of us can do, and it's enough!
I love your reminder that it's human to feel that it's "too hard" to change the way we live (and therefore, shrug, we opt to do nothing.) What if we just acknowledge that, yes, it's hard, but we can do hard things. I think one of the things that stops people from acting is that there are no promises. Oh, how we love certainty. I would love to know that if I change the landscaping in my yard and get rid of thirsty lawn and plants not well-adapted to where I live, that it would SAVE the Colorado River! And if I only eat meat once a week or every other week, that greenhouse gases will be cut by this percentage and that will mean that the flooding that hit Vermont last month will never happen again, all because of my actions! We love that kind of cause and effect story because it makes us feel good and it makes the news. I think we're going to have to act on faith here. The climate scientists were right in their warnings, we're seeing the evidence in our daily lives, and pretending that our individual actions don't matter is a vote for more of the same. Thank you for your approach here in Good Footprints, Jennifer. I appreciate your passion and how you encourage those of us who can't or won't make changes to consider "can" and "will." You're an inspiration!
And one final point on the cause & effect: our individual actions led us here... in aggregate. The book I just read included stats on how car ownership skyrocketed in the roaring 20s (it was ridiculous like 8,000 registered cars to 23 million in just over a decade!) That was one hundred years ago. I think the larger challenge is that there IS actually a cause and effect story, it's just that it's *just* a bit longer than our own capacity to see. And to reverse things will be as slow, which of course, makes people hesitant to change anything NOW as well.
I think because I work with teenagers for a living and hear them shrug their shoulders at the idea of having kids because "why would they bring a child into this world" I hear that and all over again want to break down sobbing at what we've done -- and it makes me want to work that much harder...
Thank you again, my dear friend, for your thoughts and efforts! I believe they do make a difference ❤️
Thank you for this thoughtful and inspiring post, Jennifer. There is so much individuals can do to reduce their footprint, but it will take major collective political action to stop the greatest polluters, the billionaires and their mind-boggling life styles, the military war machine, and multi-national corporations that overrule the politics and interests of smaller nations. BTW, I also just recently posted my art work as an attempt to reduce my climate anxiety: https://annettenaber.substack.com/p/creating-sanctuary-playfully-and
AGREED on the bigger entities, I just hope more people — at an individual level — start to realize it HAS to start with our actual behavior. Because right now we’re supporting those larger systems of which you speak with our daily/weekly/yearly investments in fossil fuel with our own lifestyles… so the corporations are incentivized to keep politicians in line with their (growing!!) profits. Until we change our behaviors and where we spend our money, I don’t suspect there will be enough pressure for politicians to do much of anything…sadly.
I love your post! We do also desperately need that balance of sanctuary… and I love hearing more and more people talking about finding it in art!
You are right, Jennifer - if millions, tens of millions, of households make similar earth-friendly choices, we will have a huge impact on corporations. AND we can't wait for these larger entities to make changes. We are so close to some major tipping points that are likely irreversible, so we need to work all fronts. An exhausting and sometimes demoralizing process, but we can't stop...
On an individual level, there are people who are well aware of the issues, will buy their Prius and adopt a few other sustainable practices but then buy several plane tickets a year, or worse, organize trips that involve groups of other people to fly to a certain location. I have not bought a plane ticket since 2018 (COVID helped) but now I want to see a few places in the world that will be changed irreversibly before long. It will be extremely challenging to get there without flying and I am really conflicted and wondering how I can find a way to do my traveling but connect it up with something that will have a major beneficial impact - just spending tourist dollars is not sufficient. And I think many of us have similar dilemmas beyond the easier daily practices and routines that decrease our footprints.
Ugh I feel EXACTLY the same about your whole second paragraph!! So much personal conflict about *desperately* wanting to travel to those places before they're gone (and watching so many friends travel is making me feel even more conflict, given how much each trip means to the global carbon budget we have left... it's depressing as hell).
Re: your first paragraph, I think the trick is to realize the "tens of millions" are made up of each of us. That's how voting works... and we vote with our dollars in this case.
The way I think of it is this: for every decision *I* make that I go a bit out of my way to do something for the planet that may have been easier another way, I know there are countless others making the same decision (and same holds for every time I take the easy way out, that there are countless others making that same decision). It makes me FEEL the amplification of a choice (I think the same thing when I brave up to call a senator or representative -- that if even *I* am finding the nerve to make that call, others are finding it in themselves at that same time). IT HELPS!! It helps me feel my impact is more than just a single drop in the ocean.
And that's why I feel like we need to believe in what we're doing, and SPREAD THE WORD. If I can convince one or two people to make one or two new habits, and they can convince one or two people, and they can convince... that's how it happens. So here's to it! And THANK YOU for joining not just the efforts, but the conversation as well :)
Love this, Jennifer. COVID has made me a non-flyer (do NOT want to be trapped in a floating tin can with people who don't know how to act). I haven't had red meat since Live Aid. I bring my own bags (and if I forget and can't carry it all, I buy another effing bag...pretty rare these days, but I've learned). I try to make sure I don't drive on Saturdays (about 97.5% successful at that), and walk as much as possible for small errands/going to lunches/dinners. I don't have AC, so I'm used to being warmer in the summer and don't really enjoy overly AC'd places. Would love to trade in my car for something electric (as soon as I can afford that), but keep my commutes to the absolute minimum (and happily have a WFH schedule for August). I gave up single-use plastics years ago, have silicone bags to replace Ziplocs, silicone covers for fruit and veg halves/ends, a glass water bottle I use daily and a collapsible silicone one for day trips. Aluminum foil is washable so, if it must be used, use it more than once. All of these changes are doable, and there's probably more I can do (always willing to learn). Like DON'T SIT IN YOUR IDLING CAR WHILE ON THE PHONE OR TO "CHARGE" YOUR PHONE OR TO USE THE AC! Such a pet peeve of mine. Such a planet killer. Ugh! You rule, Jennifer! xo
OMG idling is SUCH a peeve of mine (and has been for at least twenty years!! Also f*cking leaf blowers — WHY?!) Interestingly in one of the footnotes about aviation there’s data on how COVID effected aviation and global emissions… if there was a silver lining to the pandemic, we learned a lot about rapid adaptation, the effects of a lot of industry on climate, etc. And aviation is definitely still bouncing back (although by social media it would appear that the majority of my own peers seem to be on planes this week — case in point for how privilege is contributing keeping emissions on track to worsen the problem — it sucks because I’d also love to fly to visit a glacier before it’s gone, but… ).
Anyway I love and appreciate all the things you’re doing (same ones here, sisters for sure!) As an fyi, aluminum foil is actually one of the easiest things to recycle (that said, I’ve also been using the same little piece for at least a year — ha!)
Thank you, as always, for sharing your thoughts over in this little space!! Xoxo
All such important things. YES.
I love how creating nature-inspired art is a part of reducing the climate anxiety for you. And I think sharing that kind of art can help people remember why nature is so important because it touches us in a different part of our experience than just words about it may.
YES… that last thought is so important. It’s funny because as I started writing this I knew I wanted to paint that exact little painting to go with it — because of something I can’t articulate about the ephemeral beauty of a glacier I haven’t even seen with my own eyes, but long to.
It's amazing what a connection to nature can provide for us <3
I know... it's part of a profound conflict I feel right now living in the city -- I manage to find trees and bugs and squirrels in every day, but I miss wild NATURE desperately. And it's hard to get to without fossil fuels so I have to plan special train trips that are a little more complicated to places that still aren't quite as remote as I'd like!
My sister and I joke that she is country mouse and I am city mouse because she loves her remote life in West Virginia and I stagnate there and love my urban life in San Francisco. But one of the things I also love about San Francisco is that it's really easy to find snippets of nature thanks to all of our many parks and beaches ... and it's relatively easy to get to places that offer different types of nature as well.
Oh man, San Francisco is one of those places I'd live in a heartbeat (feels like the best of all the worlds I want rolled into one location!)... if I could afford it! Denver's downtown has a few very tiny snippets of "nature" near me (I go out of my way to wander through them every day!) but has a lot of work to do to re-forest areas and bring more nature into lower-income areas... I want to get involved in advocating for that somehow... but it's tricky because we are ALSO drought-prone so watering new trees is always a contentious discussion.
That is tricky. San francisco has had a rule for decades that any building they put up over a certain height has to add a public space which is usually a green space so that helps us a lot
So well said Jennifer, I am with you. YES to behavior change.
YES, my friend! I hope you are well — we need a coffee date soon ❤️
Yes! Voting for candidates who support climate policy solutions is SO important. Thank you for this article, Jennifer.
that's certainly a big part of it!! Thank you for reading and being part of the solution -- I always thought one day I could escape to your part of the world but it's looking like the PNW is feeling the heat in a big way, too (like everywhere else).
We love it here and we’d love to have you! Even though it’s been hot here too, it hasn’t been as hot as in some other places. The PNW will most likely have to deal with an influx of climate refugees and it will be interesting to see how they deal with that. Washington just received 25$M in federal grants to help with wildfire mitigation over the next few years, which is great. But it would be nice if they came up with solutions that deal with the main crisis rather than the symptoms of it…
Yep we all need to push all of our local legislators on those larger solutions… how are public transportation options around there, in general? Wherever I go next I’m pretty sure being able to not have a car is a deal-breaker… in my dream-location, I’d love a train stop within a mile of giant trees :)
Public transport options are abundant if you live in Seattle proper, I'm not sure about the surrounding areas. The city is actively expanding the light rail, which is a great way to get around the city! Also there are tons of cyclists here and Seattle is extremely bike-friendly. You can easily hop onto a train to go to Vancouver or Portland as well.
Getting to the national parks is trickier without a vehicle because they're so remote but there are buses! In the summer you can also take a bus to get to hiking trails closer to Seattle. They're exceptionally good with public transportation for an American city ha!
Oooh you are making a *very* strong argument for Seattle... I might have to hop on Amtrak and come for a visit after my busy season!!
Let me know if you do! I'd absolutely love to show you around.
The world needs more people like you!! And yes, for as long as I can survive without fan or AC (glad I easily get cold) I don't use them. Thank you for this call to action!
And you, Angelica! Thank you for being you (and I'm so with you on the fan vs AC action)!!
Well said, Jennifer. I think about the explosion in travel that's taken place once COVID restrictions were lifted, people so hungry to get out of their pandemic bubbles. In our excitement over travelling again, we don't tend to think about the impact we're having on the planet and on the places we're visiting. Many of the national parks, and some state parks and monuments have had to limit the number of visitors due to overcrowding and harsh impacts on the land. We're loving our parks to death, just as we're loving our planet to death through our travel choices. That's a hard pill to swallow. But we don't have to give up every pleasurable trip we'd like to go on. As you said, we can choose another mode of transportation to get there. Or maybe we could consider cutting some of the more impactful trips from our bucket lists.
I'm glad you mentioned water use. More and more people in the town I live in are getting rid of lawn and putting in low-water perennials. I swapped lawn for perennial plants and shrubs five years ago, in both the front and backyards. It's such a pleasure to walk through my garden and see the birds and butterflies that visit, not to mention all kinds of bees.
Your commitment to low impact choices is commendable and probably feels like too much to do for most of us. Let's acknowledge that. But, we don't have to commit to every single thing you've mentioned in order to have an impact. Eating less meat - if that's the only thing I think I can manage to do this year, it's still something! I see better health for myself, less impact on greenhouse gases, and less guilt for not doing enough. It would also put me in the mindset to look for more ways to have less impact on the planet. Five years ago, I made the commitment to use less water by removing our lawn. Three years ago, my husband and I decided we could use less AC in the summer and less heat in the winter. We have one car and "batch" errands so we're not running out to grab this or that every day. Are we willing to give up our car altogether? No, but we're limiting our use. This year we committed ourselves to eating less meat, adopting a more plant based diet. How are we doing in that goal? Terrible! It's hard to switch something so elemental to our daily lives. We like to eat meat. We hate being lectured by vegans about what bad people we are for eating meat. (That actually hasn't happened in a while, but you get my point. Lecturing people about their choices generally doesn't sway them to agree with you. Gently living your life with grace and intention, and sharing as Jennifer does here at Good Footprints, just might.) So Jennifer, my effort to eat less meat this year has been a dismal failure so far, but there are five months left to this year, and I love a good reset of my intentions. So here goes: I'm cutting back to one meat-based meal a week, and looking for more plant-based deliciousness to fill the rest of the week. And, attitude adjustment here: I plan to look at it as a discovery quest rather than a hardship I'm imposing on myself. Kind of like your painting. What's to discover in the palette of colorful vegetables and legumes that I have never tasted before?
ALSO... if anything comes of this kind of writing, a renewed commitment from anyone on any small thing (and meat is a BIG thing), means it's working... that's how momentum starts and builds upon itself! Thank you for all you do!!
Kendal I LOVE YOUR THOUGHTS HERE SO MUCH!! (sorry for all the caps but I just sat here smiling reading every word).
Yes watching the post-pandemic travel explosion has been extremely difficult for me to watch, and the "loving our national parks to death" is beyond depressing to me. Sadly, we have a limited global carbon budget left before we hit the tipping points to runaway warming. Watching so many people fly right now, my instinct (as silly as it sounds), is that since I can't change their behavior, I have to counter their consumption by doing even less (that certainly doesn't seem fair to me!) In case anyone is wondering, I, too, DESPERATELY want to hop on a plane and go visit glaciers before they're gone so I can paint them, but if everyone else keeps flying, my own dream seems even more selfish in contributing to the disappearance of those same glaciers. Ugh.
I love the choices you've made with regards to water! That's a hyper-local choice that has a much wider impact in a drought prone area. I didn't talk too much about water here because my subscribers are from all over the world (including non-drought prone areas), but it's worth noting that wherever we are, our informed local responses are incredibly important. And with the Colorado River drying up, we have a limited "water budget" like the globe has a limited carbon budget. I've also cut my showers way back and consolidate dishwashing (which is pretty easy since it's just me!)
On the meat thing, honestly I had no idea just how bad meat was until researching for this post. I've naturally moved away from it over the past decade. And good news -- when you get used to veggies, beans and other sources of protein, you start to discover HOW much flavor they pack and how they do make you feel healthier. Perhaps I'll share my favorite veggie based (not vegan) recipes in an upcoming post -- adding flavor/spice does go a long way. I'm not a purist on this topic, and going vegan would be really hard for me -- I love eggs, mozzerella and parmeggiano -- although I did recently kick dairy out of my coffee habit (I was a hard-core cappuccino lover but I've switched to black Americanos and once again, feel better for it).
Anyway, yes, I do acknowledge doing *everything* is not something everyone can do! I *also* think we've developed and accepted a narrative that doing these things is going to be hard (it's why we don't do them). But I'm here to say: it's not as hard as we all assume! That is my main point. The pandemic taught us we're more adaptable than we think. And we don't have to be purists. It's helpful to think about our choices like votes -- our daily votes don't have to be unanimous to win, if we cast a little more than half of them for a cause, we're moving in the right direction. And as "hard" as these choices might (or might not) be, watching cities get demolished in freakish floods, intensifying wildfires, strengthening hurricanes, etc., just seems harder to me.
I like to imagine that for every choice to consume one less flight / drive / burger, there's one more person somewhere who will live longer for that choice ❤️
Most of us can't (and won't) commit to every single thing we could do to try to save our planet from "the tipping point," which, honestly, it seems we've already passed. But rather than throw up our hands and say, "It's too late anyway, so I might as well live it up while I can," and "Other countries aren't living up to the Paris Accord, so why should we?" I prefer to think and act local, acknowledging that the big picture feels too overwhelming. Can I solve the issue of climate change and how it's impacting our coastlines, food supply, health and well-being? No. But I can use less water, drive less, let my congressmen and women know what's important to me, and change my eating habits, even a little bit. Doing small things, local things, is all that most of us can do, and it's enough!
I love your reminder that it's human to feel that it's "too hard" to change the way we live (and therefore, shrug, we opt to do nothing.) What if we just acknowledge that, yes, it's hard, but we can do hard things. I think one of the things that stops people from acting is that there are no promises. Oh, how we love certainty. I would love to know that if I change the landscaping in my yard and get rid of thirsty lawn and plants not well-adapted to where I live, that it would SAVE the Colorado River! And if I only eat meat once a week or every other week, that greenhouse gases will be cut by this percentage and that will mean that the flooding that hit Vermont last month will never happen again, all because of my actions! We love that kind of cause and effect story because it makes us feel good and it makes the news. I think we're going to have to act on faith here. The climate scientists were right in their warnings, we're seeing the evidence in our daily lives, and pretending that our individual actions don't matter is a vote for more of the same. Thank you for your approach here in Good Footprints, Jennifer. I appreciate your passion and how you encourage those of us who can't or won't make changes to consider "can" and "will." You're an inspiration!
YES to all of this!
And one final point on the cause & effect: our individual actions led us here... in aggregate. The book I just read included stats on how car ownership skyrocketed in the roaring 20s (it was ridiculous like 8,000 registered cars to 23 million in just over a decade!) That was one hundred years ago. I think the larger challenge is that there IS actually a cause and effect story, it's just that it's *just* a bit longer than our own capacity to see. And to reverse things will be as slow, which of course, makes people hesitant to change anything NOW as well.
I think because I work with teenagers for a living and hear them shrug their shoulders at the idea of having kids because "why would they bring a child into this world" I hear that and all over again want to break down sobbing at what we've done -- and it makes me want to work that much harder...
Thank you again, my dear friend, for your thoughts and efforts! I believe they do make a difference ❤️