As a high school chemistry teacher, I branched out from my college prep classes and started an environmental science program in 1995 based on thinking, feeling, and willing: teaching the science behind understanding the environment; inviting students to engage emotionally with it through art- writing poetry, essays, drawing, visiting a sit- spot every week; and finally using their will to transmit their feelings of depression and doom into action by directly addressing an issue, such as writing McDonald’s to stop using styrofoam. It all seems quaint now, but I witnessed these students (who were scholastically on the no - college track) really dig into trying to understand the science, the gravity of it, and actually deeply care about it.
I also wrote grants and started a water testing program of the local waters with my students, and set them up for subsidized spots volunteering with teams on Conservation International Environmental expeditions with scientists in the field.
All truly the most meaningful part of my decades in teaching.
I haven’t reflected on this in quite some time- thank you for the reminder.
This is such a wonderful anecdote, thank you for sharing. I agree that we have for too long ignored the emotional inertia that keeps us from seeing alternatives and seeking them out, and that addressing this first allows people to be curious and open about finding and implementing solutions.
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.
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.
As a high school chemistry teacher, I branched out from my college prep classes and started an environmental science program in 1995 based on thinking, feeling, and willing: teaching the science behind understanding the environment; inviting students to engage emotionally with it through art- writing poetry, essays, drawing, visiting a sit- spot every week; and finally using their will to transmit their feelings of depression and doom into action by directly addressing an issue, such as writing McDonald’s to stop using styrofoam. It all seems quaint now, but I witnessed these students (who were scholastically on the no - college track) really dig into trying to understand the science, the gravity of it, and actually deeply care about it.
I also wrote grants and started a water testing program of the local waters with my students, and set them up for subsidized spots volunteering with teams on Conservation International Environmental expeditions with scientists in the field.
All truly the most meaningful part of my decades in teaching.
I haven’t reflected on this in quite some time- thank you for the reminder.
This is such a wonderful anecdote, thank you for sharing. I agree that we have for too long ignored the emotional inertia that keeps us from seeing alternatives and seeking them out, and that addressing this first allows people to be curious and open about finding and implementing solutions.
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.
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.