Climate change is nothing new. Scientists and concerned citizens have been talking about the detrimental effects of a warming planet since the 1960s when the environmental movement made its debut in mass media. Since then we have seen the same climate change disaster headlines repeated in every magazine, newspaper, and online journal article, warning us that if we don’t take action our comfortable lifestyles would cease to exist. So, where is the action? Unfortunately, these headlines keep getting pushed to the side because there are other issues that take precedence. People have heard about climate disasters so many times that they have become numb to the issues at hand. We are here to make a change to that.
The Short End of the Stick
The Environmental Movement really started gaining the attention of the public in the late 1950s to early 1960s. For our readers who aren’t so much history buff’s, that’s about the same time period that the Civil Rights Movement was taking over the radio waves and newspapers. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks were the stars of the time and we all know just how powerful their words and actions were and still are. While these incredible leaders were paving the way for equality, the small grassroots organizations of the environmental movement waited patiently for their time to shine. However, it seems that they never truly got their chance. Even in the 1970s, when the excitement from first Earth Day was still fresh, environmentalists were brushed off for “bigger” problems in the world. What many people do not realize is that the social issues that have plagued the world since the beginning of time have slowly but surely all become intertwined with environmental-related issues.
The First World is the Problem
Everyone has their routines and to disrupt them would be utter chaos. In the United States, we are comfortable with our lifestyles because it is what we have always known. Making changes to the system isn’t done without a fight because people want to save money and put forth minimal effort to make a change otherwise, it is of no value to them to change their routine. We can see this most recently with the Skip the Straw initiatives popping up all over the US, it needs to be a big deal for people to care. However, reducing plastic pollution isn’t enough to tackle this climate disaster. We have much bigger issues in the US- people are being pushed out of their neighborhoods so companies can put up office buildings, Flint still doesn’t have clean water, kids in cities are suffering from upper respiratory infections, and so many families don’t have access to healthy foods. Some of you may be thinking, “what do these things have to do with the environment?” The answer: EVERYTHING.
Climate change is not just an environmental issue, it’s a social issue. These social issues are being presented without the correct dialogue to draw attention to the fact that we can, in fact, kill two birds with one stone. By killing the old “convenience culture” that we live by here in the US, we can reduce the amount of waste that is filling up around small neighborhoods in cities. By implementing green space we can promote neighborhood beautification and raise property values. By working with local farmers and co-ops, we can provide low-income families with healthy foods. The list goes on and on, so where do we start?
We Get It
Generally, the reaction we get from people about solving these issues is: “Well, I’m just one person, so my actions don’t really make an impact.” WRONG. If 1 million people make the individual decision to bring their own bags on their next grocery shopping trip, collectively, they just saved likely more than 1 million plastic bags from entering the landfill or oceans. Now, don’t get us wrong, we know that starting the transition is overwhelming. The good news is, no one expects you to change your entire lifestyle in 24 hours. Brett Jenks, president and CEO of Rare, gave an eye-opening speech in which he presented seven behaviors that if just 10 percent of Americans adopted, the US would make the Paris Agreement reduction in emissions goals achievable. Just 10 percent of the US population is 32, 881, 165 people. Think about how many plastic grocery bags we’d save then…
Let’s Get Together
Here at Sekoyia it is our mission to make the transition to a sustainable lifestyle easy and fun. We want to provide you with the very best products so you don’t have to scour the internet and waste your precious time and money on the trial and error process. Unlike other zero-waste brands, we don’t just want you to buy stuff, we want you to do stuff too. We want to connect you to local projects in your community that you can participate in to make an impact that you can see. The environmental movement is still being sustained by volunteers and grassroots organizations who need help, and we want to connect you two. And of course, we want to connect you to each other. Like we said, we know it’s not easy, so we want to build a community that supports each other in living sustainably. We don’t expect every single person to be the Rosa Parks of the Environmental Movement but, we want to empower you all to feel like your actions matter. Let’s be the 10 percent of Americans. Let’s be the change by going out there and doing good. Let’s lead with our lifestyles. Let’s have fun and save the planet while we do it.
“To be is to do — Socrates
To do is to be — Sartre
Do Be Do Be Do — Sinatra”
― Kurt Vonnegut
