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thirteenthspirit · 5 years

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Hold My Hand While I Climate Change

I just came back from my first-ever road trip via electric vehicle. I had ridden electric cars before, but never actually taken a long voyage by means of one. It wasn’t a very long trip, covering only about ~300km (about 186 miles for my non-existent American readers) and spanning a whopping 5 hours. We were going sightseeing in the city of Guimarães, the birthplace of Portugal, a place ridden with history and beautiful sights, with churches and sanctuaries hidden atop mountains, covered in lush forests draped in autumn’s colors.

Just to get it out of the way – my experience was positive. We didn’t waste any money on gas, which we would’ve whether we had taken my 2009 VW Polo, instead of the 2016 Nissan Leaf. But by no means do I think Portugal is fully prepared for the switch to electric-powered vehicles. Charging posts are still far and few (although growing at a much-needed rate) and still cost us a couple of hours amid waiting times and available fast-charging stations.

One of the funniest yet most awkward parts was having people gawk at us when we charged the car, mostly out of curiosity and wonder. The talk and build-up for electric cars has been increasing exponentially but many people – myself included, are still somewhat in the dark about it. We know it has been growing but had never really been confronted with the reality of it.

This got me thinking – and exchanging views with my companion, the owner of the car, for him it was almost unfathomable that I was such a sceptic about electric cars, or at least that I had never considered it as a viable option, because I was very isolated from it, just a matter of lack of exposure. When my mother called and asked why we had taken his car instead of mine, after “to save money on gas” I said (at my companion’s urge) “also to avoid polluting”. Which was followed by a heartening and ear-shattering (thanks for that mom) laugh. Not with the intent of making fun, but out of sheer surprise out of something that, for her, was so responsible and (dare I say) over-the-top environmentally sustainable, that had never crossed her mind before.

So why does this divide persist? I consider myself an informed person and I think I have a responsibility with minimizing my environmental footprint, but I was met with the realization that there are people WAY ahead of me. There is a clear divide in the spectrum, with the “most sustainable” at the top and the “less informed” at the bottom. Note I do not say “less interested”, rather “less informed” – I believe it’s just a matter of coming to terms with what we need to do and the consequences of our actions, to spurn each and every one of us to action.

So it’s a matter of conveying just how important this matter is. It is why Greta Thunberg’s voice and many more like her are so necessary – because it’s about getting the message across. To only one person, if that’s the extent of our reach, but it’s already worth it to convince one individual about the seriousness of this topic. Not only how much our input and cooperation is needed, but also to contextualize as to how the world is evolving and there are sustainable options and solutions for your everyday needs.

Someone compared it to the technological revolution, a couple of days ago (in my little finance ‘bubble’), how the developed world is shifting to prioritize sustainable solutions and how everyone who doesn’t get the picture (like the people who shunned the internet’s power at first) are going to have a tough time, being left behind in the dust and struggling to maintain their old-fashioned ways.

My argument here is a double-edged one – on one hand, it is important to get the message across. It is vital, it is my generation’s fight and every single one of us, no matter how little, can play a big role in empowering the voice for the need to change. We do have to point out what is wrong, what can be changed and what needs to be improved. But on the other hand, we cannot forget to help each other. Our struggle is to get people to hear our voice, to empathize with our plight and in that way come to our side and join us.

When people were gawking at us in gas stations, stripping us and commenting while our Leafy was charging, my immediate reaction (stemming from a couple of unhealthy social anxiety issues) was the typical “What are you staring at?”. But my companion’s reply was “No, it’s ok, it means they’re interested and want to know more. It’s a bit awkward for me too, but it’s an important part we have to play. Sometimes they come and ask me about the car, and I am more than glad to answer their questions. This is how we get the message across.”

This is how we get the message across.

That simple gas station conversation will get someone more sensitized to the viability of an electric car – say, a middle-aged couple with a few children. From the children, naturally, the parents will receive constant reminder of the need for environmental awareness, starting “simple” with recycling issues (taught around 5th grade at my time) and then evolving to updates on new technological developments prioritizing sustainability. The bubble of awareness grows.

Now – aside from the cooldown from my weekend trip, another reason that spurned me to write about this topic was a news piece I just saw on LinkedIn, basically listing the top 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions, by The Guardian. The list is comprised almost entirely of drilling and oil-exploration companies, public and/or privately-owned ones. The piece highlights the amount of money and time these corporate giants spend on lobbying and cozying-up to local governments, to make sure their interests are prioritized, over others such as “that whole hippy plant-loving environmental thing”. And it does make me mad. It does enrage me. And there should be a channel for that rage. Why am I out here doing my part for some corporate lobbyist to keep fueling their innate greed and selfishness, effectively undoing all my efforts just like that?

So what to do with this rage? Do I email [email protected] with a well-funded and sustained rant? Do I try my best to go on the news and the ‘public eye’ so I can point a finger at these corporations? I don’t know… But what I propose is this – out of the, let’s say, 2000 employees in the company, the intern that is tasked with replying to the emails from the general corporate inbox, is probably aware of this issue. He just doesn’t have enough decisive power within the organization, to effect change. And neither do 99% of the rest of the employees.

The 1% do. The board members do. The CFO’s and CEO’s and CIO’s and CTO’s and how-many-more-Oh’s you want to come up with, have the power to make a change. So they’re the ones we should be pointing fingers at. They and the ones hiding in the shadows, pulling strings with corporations and governments to ensure their ‘organizations’ keep turning a different kind of ‘sustainable wheel’ – the kind of sustainable that ensure money keeps flowing, not the actual and true sustainability we’re trying to preach. They will always look after their own interests first and if our worst fears come to pass, say and energetic crisis or a global extinction-level event, the rich will always be the most protected. It will eat through each of us first, before it gets to them.

So these hidden powers and ‘influencers’ (not the kind we idolatrize) are the real people we need to reach. But as much finger-pointing and corporate bashing and public ostracizing that (maybe) can be done, something tells me that isn’t nearly as effective as these people having their own family members go like “Dad, can’t we do something about this?”. And hey, I know those guys take their own private cars and planes to go places, but their 3rd cousin Bill usually goes through the interstate.

Maybe he stops at the same gas station as I did. And maybe there he learns about how much better (for the environment and his pocket) an electric car is. So maybe he then comments about it to his 2nd cousin Mike.

Mike had already heard about it from his teenage daughter Anne and is quite versed on climatic issues, he follows Elon Musk on twitter after all, so he decides to get an electric car. He likes his experience and becomes quite advocate on it, actually gaining some pride on doing something good for the environment as well. So maybe he keeps telling his half-sister Lisa at family gatherings.

And Lisa hears it from him. And from her children. And from her friends. And from her neighbors. And from Greta on the TV. And so she becomes convinced and afraid – she comes into the bubble.

Here’s the catcher – Lisa sits on the board of a large energy producing company, even being featured on the “Forbes 50 people to watch in 2020”. So she conveys all her beliefs and ideas to the rest of her fellow stakeholders. The result? Setting the following 2025 goal: shifting 90% of the company’s energy production to renewables. And in that way, effect impact on a global scale. And all of that from a simple conversation at a gas station – at least where my part is concerned.

My point is a very simple and human one – help each other. Be patient with each other. Never patronizing. People say things or maybe they’re less attuned to environmental issues than we are, and they have their reasons, valid or not. But the way we can get them to realize the validity of our fight is through dialogue. We should adapt our speech to their struggles and skepticisms, before throwing hostile arguments in their face.

Aside from the global movement, the part we individuals can play is a very simple and easy one.

Maybe just answering a couple of questions about why you’re plugging in your car through the nose. Social anxiety or not, I think even I can do that one!

Here’s to using words as our biggest tool,

-João A. (Pachiren)

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