The Book “Things You Can Do” And A Life Lived More Sustainably

About a month ago I was flipping through the art magazine Uppercase and I stumbled upon a little blurb about an artist that did the illustration for a book called “Things You Can Do – How To Fight Climate Change and Reduce Waste”. I googled the book and it looked interesting, and I liked the style of illustration, so I went to one of the local bookstores in Burlington and bought it. The premise of the book is that climate change and other environmental degradation is not good (duh), and it points towards changes you can make in your life that offer a more favorable option for the earth. The book is overly simplistic in some ways, and there are absolutely parts of it that can be debated, but overall I think it was important for me to read. The introduction is what really caught me:

“Are you familiar with the parable of the hummingbird?

It goes like this:

One day, a huge wildfire breaks out in the forest, forcing all the animals to flee. Terrified, they find refuge by the edge of the forest, where they feel overwhelmed and helpless as they watch the ferocious flames destroy their beautiful home. They are paralyzed, except for the hummingbird, who says, “I’m going to do something about this fire.” She flies to the nearest river, scoops a few drops of water with her beak, rushes towards the blaze, and drops the water onto the fire. And off geos the hummingbird, back and forth between the river and the flames at whizzing speeds, dropping water into the blaze at every turn. The rest of the animals are stupefied. The elephants, the bears, the deer, and the other big critters that could carry much more water yell at the hummingbird, ‘What are you doing? Your beak is tiny, you can barely carry any water?’ And without missing a beat the hummingbird turns around and tells them, ‘I’m doing the best I can.’”.

Eduardo Garcia “Things You Can Do” Introduction

This story has really stuck with me, and influenced how I read the rest of the book. In college I studied Environmental Science, so all of the topics that the author covered were very familiar to me. From electricity generation, to agriculture to fossil fuels, I understand the issues around these institutions thoroughly. And yet, even with a literal degree in this, I am not embodying the hummingbird. I am not doing the best I can. 

It was with this realization that I decided that I needed to start making some changes. Each weekly blog post for the rest of this writing season will focus on different parts of my life that I’m working to make more sustainable. Included in these posts will likely be some random musings and my own personal philosophies, but my hope is to inspire more hummingbirds to work with me on being the best that we can. 

With the coming posts I want to include a little disclaimer. The conversation about environmentalism is obviously way more nuanced than “just swap out paper towels for reusable towels”. There are layers and layers and I think this should be acknowledged. For starters, I’m speaking from a place of privilege to even have the time and bandwidth to think about these things and to be able to financially afford certain alternatives. There are a lot of systemic things that need to change if we are to combat climate change and address the environmental injustices which are furthering the gap between the advantaged and the disadvantaged. Furthermore, greenwashing is huge right now and I will try to be super conscious of that.

That being said, when I was studying all of this in school I really started to feel both overwhelmed and numb to the doom and gloom of the issues we’re facing. My intention is that my posts are more hopeful and inspiring instead of focusing on the big issues. Buying one thing over the other will not save the planet, but it will cast a small vote in that direction, and many many small votes eventually make big votes. 

If you have thoughts I’d love to hear from you! Reach out with the best changes you have made to live your life more sustainably(: