Never look at a plastic water bottle the same way again.

[Music]

we’re reaching the end

of a really crazy year and we’ve been

living through a pandemic

and multiple crises my question is

how do we want to be remembered i hope

by the end of this

and my talk you see this question

the way i do which is truly existential

throughout kovid we’ve heard the word

unprecedented use frequently

to describe our experience suggesting

that we’ve never been through a viral

pandemic before but we have

so the word unprecedented is simply an

excuse and justification

for our own inaction and ineffective

leadership

throughout history our behavior as

humans

during viral pandemics has been less

than humane

in the mid 1300s parents in florence

were described

as abandoning their children on the

streets in order to save themselves

in the mid 1600s londoners were said to

neglect their family and neighbors

during the 1918 pandemic health workers

in

philadelphia were unable to find

volunteers to take food

to children and adults who were in

quarantine they were left to starve

in march 2020 the columnist david brooks

described these events and also noted

that

by the end of world war 1 53 000

americans had died

and the country celebrated the victory

and sacrifice

by talking about it writing plays

writing books

and making movies he said they did this

because they were proud

of how they behaved and by contrast he

said

by the end of the 1918 pandemic 675

000 americans had died and the country

didn’t talk about it there were no books

or plays written

he posited that this happened because

people were ashamed

of how they behaved and wanted to put

the experience in the past

can you imagine abandoning your children

neglecting neighbors and families

allowing people to starve it’s hard to

imagine in our society that that might

happen

but we’ve seen mass hoarding people

ignoring medical advice

rebellion against social distancing and

mask wearing

and an increase in food insecurity with

one in eight families not having access

to enough food

it seems as though we’ve completely

abandoned our

own civic responsibilities and forgotten

to think of each other as humans

how will we be remembered

we’ve been living through another

pandemic which is slow moving

which makes it difficult to see and hard

to comprehend

that pandemic is climate change

and throughout discussions of climate

change we’ve also heard the word

unprecedented use frequently to describe

our experience

suggesting that we haven’t known that

this is happening

but we have known because scientists

have been warning us

for over a hundred years that our

behavior impacts our climate

so again the word unprecedented is

simply an excuse and justification

for our own inaction and ineffective

leadership but there is no excuse

because we know this is real we know the

impacts

we have the solutions and just need to

implement them

and yet we seem unwilling to make

meaningful change

we all need to make change and we should

decide how do we want to be remembered

do we want to be remembered as people

who abandon their children

neglected families and neighbors

as people who allowed our community to

starve

all in pursuit of our own self-interest

or do we want to be remembered

as people who are willing to sacrifice

and make the meaningful change necessary

to improve the lives of our children

our families neighbors and the entire

global community

we all need to change our behavior

none of this is difficult a few examples

require radical change

and i’m not suggesting that any of us

need to become

vegetarian or all of us don’t need to

become vegetarian

although in full disclosure i am a

vegetarian and it’s really quite nice

through my work as a social and

environmental impact consultant

i’d like to propose that there are two

ways we can think about making

meaningful change as individuals

and have a positive impact on our

climate

these two ideas are used less and care

more

so what do i mean by use less americans

are rabid consumers

we consume more than any other country

in the world

on both a national and individual basis

and all of that consumption has

significant environmental

and community impacts we can start by

looking at our water use

the way we use waters in our houses

and as individuals have significant

impacts on the environment in our

communities

particularly downstream communities the

united states geological survey

indicates that spokane is in the top two

percent

of water use per person per day and that

might seem

hard to imagine but i’ll give you an

example of my own family

last summer we were using around 70 000

gallons of water a day sorry a month

which is a huge amount and most of it

went to keeping our yard green

that’s enough water to hydrate 150

people for an entire year

and add up all of the summer months of

water use

and you have enough water

to hydrate an entire town all of this

water use has

impacts on downstream communities

as upstream communities use more and

more there’s less and less

for each community further down the

river

and it impacts the environment and

aquatic wildlife who call those rivers

home

decreasing river flows and stream flows

mean less habitat for fish

which has multiplying effects on the

ecosystem

and it takes away important food sources

for the animals but also indigenous

people

and members of the community who have

relied on fish as part of their culture

for centuries

so what can we do as individuals in

order to really make a difference

we can carry water bottles and

refillable coffee cups

a second way we can consider making an

impact

is to create less waste so let’s use an

example of plastic bottles

around the world one million

single-use plastic bottles are consumed

and discarded every minute

that equates to half a trillion bottles

per year

and four trillion bottles over the past

decade

and if you bring all of those bottles

together that would create a mountain

nearly the size of mount st helens

and while that plastic mountain won’t

explode

it has as big as or a more significant

impact than

mount st helens did when it erupted

something that we should all consider

only fifty percent of bottles are

recyclable only seven percent

are made into new bottles and

communities around the country

have stopped recycling it all

so i said there were two ways that we

can make meaningful change

use less and care more

so let’s think about how we might care

more

and we want to care more because all of

us will be impacted by climate change

and some of us

in our communities disproportionately

this image provided by carrie brooks

professor at eastern washington

university

shows vehicle emissions along major

arteries in spokane

with the darker blue represent higher

emissions

we know that lower income people tend to

live along arteries

because property values are lower and

they’re more affordable homes

we know that air pollution is a cause of

respiratory illness

which puts people at higher risk of

viral diseases like covid

and it’s not just low income individuals

who live in those

areas and along those streets who are

impacted it’s anybody

who uses those streets for

transportation

if you ride a bus ride your bike or walk

to get around on those streets you’re

exposed

to that air pollution and you’re even

exposed

and at higher risk if you drive a car

unless you’re lucky enough to have an

advanced air filtration system in your

car

so what can you do

consider your transfer transportation

choices

do you really need to drive if you have

to run multiple errands consider

combining them into a single trip

more importantly use alternative

transportation such as riding a bike

walking riding the bus and

probably the best thing you can do is

support the development

of infrastructure that makes it easier

to use alternative transportation

we can see how our behaviors impact

air quality by looking at what’s

happened through covid where fewer

people have been driving

in la we’ve seen a decrease in air

pollution and they’ve enjoyed some of

the best air quality of all major cities

in the united states

and delhi which has some of the

chronically worst air quality

throughout the world has enjoyed the

best air quality on record

another way to care more

is to think about tree canopy and and

the impact that has on

shade spokane has

four of the 10 poorest zip codes in all

of washington state

and those are shown here 99201

is the poorest zip code in all of the

pacific northwest

these zip codes tend to be low that are

lower income tend to have

fewer trees and therefore less shade

which means people who live in these

areas are at greater risk of

increasing temperatures and extreme

heat waves we should all care about that

and it’s not just our community where

this is a problem

it’s an issue around the world so

compare the map of spokane washington

and santiago chile

and look at the areas that are white and

gray and those are the areas that

typically have

few to no trees and i’ll let you decide

in looking at those

which parts of the city are more likely

to be low income

and which parts are likely to be higher

income

so what can you do plant trees on your

own property

support tree planting throughout your

community particularly in low income

neighborhoods

and the best thing you can do

is support the integration of affordable

housing into all communities

particularly

in low-income neighborhoods

but trees grow slowly so we want to

ensure

that people have access to shade so the

best way to create equity

is to give all people access to shade

where it already exists

the third thing you can do to care more

is consider your purchasing choices

and buy local this isn’t just about

economic resiliency it’s also about food

security

in spokane over 90 percent of our food

comes from somewhere else

despite the fact that our region has

some of the best most fertile soil in

the entire country

when we buy locally nearly 50 times more

money is retained in our own economy

than if we buy online

where if you spend a hundred dollars

only one dollar is actually retained in

your local community and only then

if the driver happens to live there

none of this is a political argument

it’s not anti-global it’s not

anti-corporate we live in a global

community which is important and

corporations have a role

this is a human argument it’s about

economic resiliency

and equity

we’ve seen what covett has done to our

local economies

with people losing their jobs and

businesses being shut

and we know that the economic impacts of

climate change

won’t be any better and will probably be

worse because it happens over a longer

period of time

so what can you do buy from local

independently owned businesses

eat at locally owned restaurants their

food typically tastes better

and it’s easier to find vegetarian

options too

last thing you can do is consider

purchasing the majority of our produce

and meat and dairy from local farmers

that helps create

jobs and improves our own food security

we should all care about how we behave

and about climate change we’ll all be

impacted

none of us will be spared it’s an issue

of equity and an issue of treating each

other as humans

the most important thing you can do in

the short term is to vote

vote with your wallet vote for science

vote for climate leadership both locally

and nationally

local leadership matters too and vote

for people who will use less

and care more let me leave you with this

in 1975 muhammad ali

visited harvard and spoke to a large

group of students

and by the end of his talk a student

stood up and asked ali to give them a

poem

and ali responded with what george

plimpton described as the shortest poem

in the world

ali said me we

to me this is the most beautiful poem

ever because of the simplicity

and complexity of the message

when i first heard it i imagine it is

just four letters

me we and when you write

me on a piece of paper and put a mirror

next to it

we is reflected back at you there’s a

symmetry

there’s a connectedness they’re linked

together

just as i am connected with all of you

being in this room and enjoying this

experience together

and all of us are connected to the

community that we live in

when it comes to climate change i know

how i want to be remembered

as a human how do you want to be

remembered

thanks

you