I’ve been a somewhat dormant blogger lately. I’ve actually been a pretty dormant person too. Yesterday, I finally got out of my shell and did something noteworthy.
This girl Chelsea, who uses my ID to get in to clubs in her spare time but fights to protect our environment most other times, was screening a movie at San Jose State last night. This Changes Everything, narrated and based on a book by Naomi Klein, is your typical environmental film: relevant, touching, somewhat boring, containing some statistics on our carbon emissions so on and so fourth. Unlike other environmental documentaries, this one was in part produced by the re-incarnation of mother nature: Vivienne Westwood; most environmentalists may not care, but some of the fashion and environment conscious crowd most definitely find the topic of climate change a lot more appealing with the name drop. Some folks may look down on those who suddenly become interested in the pressing climate issues due to icons like Westwood guiding crowds of protestors, but on the other hand, isn’t it better that people find a connection to the issue at stake?
One of the things the documentary did especially well, was cover the human aspect of environmental sustainability. Yes, we want to protect the environment so that wildlife can have a healthy habitat, but we also want to be able to live our lives without having environmental catastrophes destroying the land we call home.
The human aspect is what will make us change our ways, because unfortunately the damage that is done on the other side of the world or in the depths of the oceans isn’t enough to stir society at large. The reason is that people already have enough on their plates. It’s not because people don’t care about what’s happening with the rising of the sea level and the starving polar bears, it’s because our human nature has taught us to resolve most pressing issues first, and until we come fave to face with these issues we don’t see them as pressing. Unfortunately, people need closure to chaos.
Hurricane Sandy, Katrina, Bursting pipe-lines, the disaster in Fukushima – those are the types of events that make us take our actions and the power of nature more seriously.
This is not the time to be dormant. It’s a time to use the means we have, wether it be words, actions, or whatever else, and to crawl out of our comfort zones to see that the world isn’t waiting for us. We’ve set the pace, so now it’s time to catch up.
Penned by Alina K. A. 