This week's issue marks six months of Finding Out! Thank you for being part of this adventure. If you're enjoying it, I'd love for you to tell a friend, or perhaps just give me a like or comment at @howwefindout on Instagram, so that I know you're reading. <3
Initially, I groaned and tried to ignore the climate change report that came out at the beginning of August. Especially after learning late last year that big oil had been tricking all of us into thinking that recycling plastic is more worthwhile than it is, I just didn't have the energy for more disappointment. Research findings without actionable recommendations just activate my anxiety.
But over the following days, I slowly warmed up to investigating what else we could do to help.
My partner and I watched a video by Hank Green that argued that if we understood how countries are trying to reduce carbon in the atmosphere, we'd be ahead of most people on the subject of saving our planet. After, I asked that we go back to a couple of the diagrams and talk them out, to make sure that I really was being the good student that Green asked us to be. It felt like a small, but meaningful step in the right direction.
A day or two later, I listened to a podcast episode hosted by my friend Eli Chen for National Geographic. It talked about how people in cities are helping historically ignored communities gain protection from rising summer temperatures by expanding the tree canopy. I felt encouraged by how it brought together social justice and environmentalism.
Then, a friend and fellow designer posted in her Instagram story about how she was trying to do more, but was unsure where to start and whether people wanted to learn together. We DMed about our shared struggles, and that connection helped me feel reassured and motivated, too. She shared a book that she was planning to read, and after looking it up, I decided it didn't quite align with where I wanted to go, but I also felt inspired to find something that did.
Some internet wanderings later, I discovered a reputable-looking podcast episode entitled, "Is your Carbon Footprint BS?" I was excited to see that one of the hosts was a Black woman scientist—Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson—and then a bit disappointed when I realized that the white man in the podcast art was Alex Blumberg, who just gets to make so much. Prolific white men aside, what I learned from the episode was very helpful.
The idea behind measuring a personal carbon footprint is that if we all focus on reducing our own, we can collectively slow climate change. But recently, there've been suggestions that, compared to the carbon emissions of corporations and governments, our individual footprints simply don't matter.
(If you want to experience the dramatic reveal of whether that's true, now is the time to go listen to the episode and come back. The link is at the bottom of this issue, as usual.)
(You ready? Ok!)
Johnson and Blumberg conclude that both systemic change AND individual actions are important to climate change, IF the people around us learn that we care and what we are doing. Living by our values is meaningful in itself, and sharing that sense of purpose can inspire others to do the same.
With all this supporting me—the two podcast episodes, the video, and feeling solidarity—I finally decided to do something that had been on my mind for a while.
I helped one tree down the block from our house get access to water.
I've been walking by this poor tree all summer, noticing that its leaves were becoming more and more scarce. The grass near it had grown closer and closer to its trunk and then gone to seed, and as of yesterday morning, the spikes were nearly a quarter of the height of the sapling's trunk. The dense lawn was absorbing water that could be nourishing the tree.
The city of St. Louis, like many cities, officially owns the green space between the sidewalk and the street. The last couple years, the forestry department has been planting trees to replace those that were taken down to prevent the spread of the emerald ash borer, beetles that wipe out whole swaths of trees.
Unfortunately, while they've been attentive at planting the trees in our neighborhood, they expect citizens to water them if it gets too hot without enough rain. And there hasn’t been the needed communication about that expectation.
So, thinking of the power of small changes, I set out to give the tree a better chance.
I already knew how to make the tree berm that would help me water the tree, and I already had most of the tools I needed to remove the infringing grass. Even with my kiddo in tow (who enjoyed playing with the collected grass clippings and climbing the slope between the sidewalk and the adjacent apartment building) and a trip to the hardware store (Lowes, whose CEO is Black, hooray!), the project only took me three hours from start to finish.
A few hours given, and the tree is much more likely to grow for years to come. It's a columnar English oak called "Skyrocket," and it may grow to be 45 feet tall. In the fall, its dark green leaves turn bronze. And while I don't expect this tree to live as long in St. Louis, in European forests, columnar English oaks can live—and provide shade and beauty—for 1000 years.
Now, I'm telling you about caring for it. And maybe I'll post to our neighborhood's social network about the project. And maybe that'll inspire you or someone else to help a tree near them, or do something else entirely different. In her podcast episode, Johnson advises that to save the planet, we each do what's at the intersection of our skills, our joy, and what needs to be done. Helping that tree get water was one of the actions in that intersection for me.
If you hope for the next UN report to say something different from this year's, I hope you'll find something (or some things!) that the planet needs that you can do and that will bring you joy, too. Building a shared system of values and voting and action so that we can work together with our planet—that’s how we’ll continue to have an environment that nourishes humankind.
Mentioned in this issue: 2021 United Nations climate change report, as reported by NPR; big oil misleading us on plastic recycling, as reported by NPR; Hank Green's video on understanding policies for slowing climate change; Overheard at National Geographic episode "Cooling Cities by Throwing Shade," hosted by Eli Chen; How to Save a Planet episode "Is your Carbon Footprint BS?" hosted by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Alex Blumberg; emerald ash borer in St. Louis, as described by the city; tree berms, as described by the University of Florida extension program; and columnar English oak trees, as described by the University of Arkansas extension program.