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