I feel I’m in a constant state of compromise. There’s no getting around doing environmental damage if you’re to belong to this world. The phone I’m writing on, the propane I’m cooking with, the shipping of the bananas I love; they’re all doing harm. It’s this constant compromise that makes slipping into more harmful behaviors feel less consequential. Yes, I work hard to remain conscious and your point of not obstructing progress is a good one, but our choices are limited and sometimes the shallow enjoyments of exploitation feel easy and liberating.
Totally agree - I also feel I’m in a constant state of compromise and I have never been much of a purist or an evangelical. This article represented a very particular moment in time for me when I felt like I needed some sense of progress. I’ve since adapted a more compromising stance but ultimately wonder where that slides into complacency. In the end we all individually only have so much control and so much will power, the most we can do is try our best and help each other do our best.
It took me days to form a comment that can adequately say thank you for this essay. It's exactly how I feel sometimes, trying to balance my college friendships with being a "radicalized" "myopic" "unforgiving" climate activist. People feel judged and I feel isolated.
But I appreciate your honesty in this story, even if it is a few years old, because it is so relevant to how climate-conscious people have to navigate our culture of complacency. I really like some of the quotes and references you included because it shows how broadly you're trying to think -- not only as a scientist, but as a person, an artist, a brother. And I know this struggle is inevitable, there's a reason I'm scared to send this article to my friends. But thank you Spencer for great work, I really needed to read this.
Nailed it.
I feel I’m in a constant state of compromise. There’s no getting around doing environmental damage if you’re to belong to this world. The phone I’m writing on, the propane I’m cooking with, the shipping of the bananas I love; they’re all doing harm. It’s this constant compromise that makes slipping into more harmful behaviors feel less consequential. Yes, I work hard to remain conscious and your point of not obstructing progress is a good one, but our choices are limited and sometimes the shallow enjoyments of exploitation feel easy and liberating.
Totally agree - I also feel I’m in a constant state of compromise and I have never been much of a purist or an evangelical. This article represented a very particular moment in time for me when I felt like I needed some sense of progress. I’ve since adapted a more compromising stance but ultimately wonder where that slides into complacency. In the end we all individually only have so much control and so much will power, the most we can do is try our best and help each other do our best.
It took me days to form a comment that can adequately say thank you for this essay. It's exactly how I feel sometimes, trying to balance my college friendships with being a "radicalized" "myopic" "unforgiving" climate activist. People feel judged and I feel isolated.
But I appreciate your honesty in this story, even if it is a few years old, because it is so relevant to how climate-conscious people have to navigate our culture of complacency. I really like some of the quotes and references you included because it shows how broadly you're trying to think -- not only as a scientist, but as a person, an artist, a brother. And I know this struggle is inevitable, there's a reason I'm scared to send this article to my friends. But thank you Spencer for great work, I really needed to read this.