The Environment

A breif overview

Sustainability Information Pinterest Board

Where the Environment is Right Now

A collection of explanatory maps, statistics, and fact pages about the current state of the environment.

USA Environmental Overview

Global Environmental OverView

The Environment in Politics

Sustainability

Sustainability Pinterest Board

Beginner's Guide to Sustainable Living

A quick note:

Sustainable Living is , to me, most important as a tool for gaining awareness.
In a lot of places, it can be nearly impossible to live a truly sustainable life - which is why its important to try.
The more aware we are of how much damage is being done every day, the more inspired we can be to make changes.

Simple Ways to Get Involved

Aside from becoming more sustainable in everyday living, here are some simple ways to help out the environment (and everyone living in it).

General Tips

Charities to Donate to/ Be a Part Of

This sucks

I wrote this note for myself for as a reminder for when frustration over this whole ordeal makes me just want to give up. While I was going to keep it private, I decided it might be good to put it out there for people who are feeling similarly. Maybe you relate to it, maybe you dont. I find it pretty useful. Maybe you will too.

Man. I get it.

This is an issue that can suck any shreds of hope for humanity right out of you. To hear about all of this shit, to see it happening all around you, without any idea of what you could possibly do about it, is horrible.
It feels hopeless; frustrating.

It feels fucking awful.




But listen, I don't want you to give up just yet. There are still ways we can make things right

I'm not gonna give you some silly bullshit like "oooh recycle!!! reuse reduce !!!call your local politicians!!! drink water!!!" because that can start to feel even more condescending. Its also... Not helpful

We both know the only real way to make long lasting changes is, realistically, to cushion the floor and then aim for the top.


But like. what does that mean.

To start, the average person isn't causing all of this.
To put all of the responsibility on the average person's inability to live off of their own homegrown everything in the middle of rural america or europe or wherever is silly.

We certainly arent helping things, with consumerism and one-use water bottles and all the other stuff you always hear mass pollution blamed on, but we also don't know any better. We dont really even know how to be better. Not realistically, anyway. No-one seems to want to help. Corporations have their bottom lines, and often times the politicians don't have long term goals in mind, and (speaking generally) they'd both sooner dump petroleum jelly directly into an endangered bobcat's throat than lose out on one percent of their overall profits or success.





We kind of have to... do this ourselves.


Its a bit shoddy, but here's what I've got so far.


AIMING FOR THE TOP
Educate yourself, and build a community of people who are willing to learn. Break down the difficult topics into easy-to-learn, digestible fragments. Inspire others to start questioning why things are the way they are.

Call your politicians (sorry lol), vote them out if you have to, push for big companies to be more gentle to the environment and its workers, or to shut down if they cant. Join or start local environmental clubs, run for office if you are that way inclined! Do things that actually encourage physical change. Digital activism can only go so far. :/

CUSHIONING FROM THE BOTTOM
We will need some things to fall back on once big changes actually start to happen-
with change comes lost jobs and lost money, which usually (mostly) effects those at the lower half of the economic statuses. This is important, because they are a lot of us. Not everyone can afford to quit their job just because their company has bad sustainability practicies- hell, most people cant.


I'd argue it's integral to be more local, to help with things like carbon emissions: for those who can, working remotely is a fantastic option for reducing carbon emissions from driving, opening up old office buildings for other uses, and getting people more invested in the state of their local community.


In terms of food, farmers markets, or shifting to more locally grown produce is preferable. Bringing food back to a smaller scale can help reduce the oversites or injustices or cruelties that come with running massive, conglomerate owned farms with that bottom line of making bank. Starting more local farms, or body care places, with refillable containers; supporting local businesses. That's already several important, hands-on jobs right there, for a lot of different skill sets.

Local labor, like locally and ethically sourced fur, leather, or wool shops would do wonders at both the manufacturing of more natural materials and providing more jobs. They'll need directors, laborers, quality checkers, people who can handle animals, salespeople, etc.

As for the business side, it would admittedly be a huge shift. A lot of these jobs are humble, hands on, and definitely laborious- advancements in technology would likely make things a lot easier, but....

All of this does cost a lot of money right from the gate

This is why it would be ideal if the people who currently have assloads of money start investing more into things like these. I get that it's not always in their own best interests, and everyone wants to have their millionaire American dream. This is it's own conversation, but unfortunately not everyone can. We can all become comfortable; with support from a community, it's amazing how many things can be accomplished. People can rise out of poverty, own a wonderful house, have their dream career- but not everyone's dream is the same, and I tend to feel that the American condition leads a lot of people to feel their dream is fame and wealth, when in reality that's become the only vision of comfort in an unstable and unconnected society. I genuinely believe that some sort of return to a slower, cleaner, and hands-on life would do wonders for a lot of people's health, and allowing people to be monetarily comfortable enough to see options outside of the expected prestigious Doctor or Scientist or Famous Person would be... kind of nice. But I digress.

Like everything, it will have its issues and bumps in the road and downsides- but imagine the upsides. More jobs, local money flow, better quality products, a sense of local pride, encouraged consumer responsibility, less waste!

On a smaller scale, stop by the sustainability chapter in this carrd and see what you can do to help out a bit. Some things are pretty shockingly easy, though admittedly require a bit of thought.


We have a million other things going on right now, I know.

COVID is out of control, things are really difficult and its okay if this isn't your biggest priority right now- though I'd love for you to at least think a bit about it, and do your best to support from the sidelines if it cant be the main hustle, I wont demand you suddenly become a tree-hugging hippie who spends all day at protests and reposting "save the local beehives" posters online.



Its also understandable to look at this from a selfish point of view. Its hard to care. I can't make you care. Its easy to brush things away if they aren't directly affecting you, and one day you'll be gone and it won't matter anyway.

But I care. A lot. I stopped caring for a bit, and I cant care all the time or I think I'd pop a blood vessel, but caring helps me feel more connected to the world around me. Again, on a selfish note, It's motivating; hell, it motivated me to make this page, to help other people keep caring as well, even (especially) once they feel like no longer do.

No matter what drives you caring, whether its selfish or selfless, it's ultimately good if it produces the results we are looking for. If you only volunteer at a local farm because it's good on your resume, you're still helping out, and shoot, maybe you'll find your passion for it in there someday as well.

the bottom line is, its good to care.

The people in countries being impacted by pollution and the like care. The people working hard to fight this fight care. People doing this for their own sanity or because they heard about it online care.

If its any consolation, at the end of the day, we are doing this for ourselves. To keep the earth pretty and a shining little gem of life, and for it to be able to support us comfortably for a little while longer.

The planet is gonna be fine. Regardless of what it looks like, It'll go on spinning long after we are gone. We won't be, unless we do something about it.