The Environmental Privilege of "Because I will be dead by the time this is a problem."

The first time I was taught about climate change was when I was seven. My first-grade teacher, Ms. Stone, explained why we didn't have a white Christmas that year. She told us about the slow increase of temperature that was beginning to melt ice caps. She told us that climate change was because of us, because of humans. Our cars, electricity, and the way we were existing was destroying the environment. But I also noticed something odd about her tone. She didn't sound as if she cared at all about the terrifying change she was describing to us. She made the problem sound far out of our concern. I asked her why. She looked me in the eyes and said: "Because I'll be dead by the time it is a problem."

 

Ms. Stone was 40 years old at the time and had two young children. She probably had a long time to live, and of course, her kids would be around for a lot longer than that. Her refusal to consider fighting against climate change haunted me then and does still. 

 

About ten years later, I had a friend who explained climate change as a natural heating and cooling period, and the Earth would eventually even out. She quoted President Trump and Fox News as a viable outlet source and justification for why she didn’t recycle and heated her outdoor pool to 90 degrees in the summer. She wanted four kids while she ignored what they will eventually be born into.

 

When I was a freshman in college, showers were being used for over two hours. Students and RAs would brush their teeth with fresh, clean water running for over two minutes. People would flush a toilet before they went to the bathroom if it had pee in it. But none of this mattered to them because they didn't pay for the water.

 

This past fall, I was hiking with some close friends in the Adirondack mountains. The trees were turning from orange to a fiery red. The air was crisp when we finally made it to the top. We all stood in silence, taking in the awe of being a part of nature. I split off with two of my friends to the tree line's edge to get a different view. At the top of one of the most beautiful spots in New York, my friend pulled a Dunkin' Donuts paper bag out of her pocket and threw it into the woods while she made the sound zoot. "Sorry nature environmentalist people," she said.

 

Somewhere between witnessing people not caring and people not believing, I decided that I could make a difference even if it was just me. I made decisions to better the environment. I became vegan to reduce carbon emissions, recycled plastic I found on the streets, took reusable bags to the grocery store, and did everything I could individually. When I made these decisions, I held myself accountable with the knowledge that others wouldn't.

 

I made most of these eco-friendly decisions ten years ago while I continue to watch my friends take plastic bags at the store and eat enough meat to erase what I have cut out of my diet. I am so tired of doing the right thing. I became vegan for the environment, even though my favorite food was hotdogs. I wouldn't say I like the cheese substitutes and Beyond burgers are not the same no matter what people say. To me, vegan is what I can contribute, but I feel so useless doing it. Beyond burgers and cheeseless pasta wouldn't matter to me if I felt like other people were joining. If their excuse wasn't, but I love steak. 

 

For years, I have looked for a word for people who don't help the environment. It isn't ignorance, and it isn't denial, it isn't carelessness. It is an environmental privilege. Environmental privilege stems from the unawareness of the vital and coveted resources one group can access, but another group cannot. It is the overuse of water and greenhouse gases with no regard for future generations. 

 

Ever since I began being distressed by acts of environmental privilege, I've been looking for a model of someone who is more aware and takes responsibility for how to live lightly in the world. For someone who thinks about what will happen when the Earth heats up, or the water runs out, or when there's more garbage in the ocean than fish.

 

I may have found him in Barry Carr. I met Carr through the Climate Change Awareness and Action (CCAA) program, where I am interning as a newsletter writer. Carr is an active member of CCAA who has dedicated his time to the nonprofit to help address climate change in Syracuse. I met with him on the phone to see how far members in CCAA individually go to help the environment.

 

Carr is a man in his 60s that is just beginning to have grey hairs peek out of his dark brown hair. He is, by all means, an average adult I fully didn't believe existed.

 

Carr, an avid advocate for the environment, has been aware of climate change and the environment since he was in grade school. Carr tenses while recollecting how he stood by the running buses outside of school and started coughing. Idling produces particulate matter from diesel which gets in your lungs and stays in your lungs for the rest of your life. Carr took on this challenge from an early age, and he knew what many have avoided seeing as the truth: climate change is happening, and it needs to be addressed. 

 

Carr has dedicated his career to helping the environment. As a new college graduate, he worked testing electric technologies, then joined the Clean Cities coalition 24 years ago. CC of CNY is an outreach and education program supported by the US Department of Energy. It is related to alternative fuels, alternative fuel vehicles, and advanced transportation methods. He also works for Galileo Technologies, a company that develops renewable metro gas and renewable hydrogen projects. He is a member of the NY Clean Fuels Coalition, an organization that introduces legislation that will provide a tax on fossil fuel users, then the tax will be used for clean transportation projects. Carr also guest speaks at many colleges and high schools and goes to the White House to speak. 

 

Carr is an outlier in his generation and has seen the water rising past the bridges and warm winters before they have happened. He had understood environmental privilege and seen climate change before it was a problem. Carr has worked tirelessly to create a better future for his children and the entire world.

 

Meanwhile, school buses turn their engines before they need to leave to keep themselves and the children warm. This action is considerate in the moment, but they are idling long enough to ruin everything Barry Carr has done. They are taking comfort in the short run and accepting the pollution and damage to climate change in the long run.

 

I have found myself stuck in a limbo of waiting for people to realize and waiting for people to join before it's too late. I have given up on people altogether and look to Carr for a solution or some sanity. Carr has taken a different approach, which is to keep trying and to keep educating. Carr has grappled with audiences who don't believe or don't care, and he has explained, "I feel sorry for them. It's just that they are uneducated or unwilling to listen to other people's thoughts. We used to have a president like that. It's sad. And all you can do is keep on trying."

 

Carr not only believes in the changing climate, but he is choosing a path to fix it because although he probably won't be alive in 2050, he explains, "I have children, and I also care about other people."

 

Carr has also encountered people who blame climate change on the production of large companies, fracking, the Industrial Revolution, the generation before, the government, factories, oil companies, and these are all true. Everyone is to blame. 

 

But the question still lingers: if environmental privilege is intertwined with society, whose responsibility is it?

 

The answer: everyone. It's normal to get lost in the doomsday, apocalypse rabbit hole of climate change. It's okay to feel lost, but it's not okay to ignore the problem. I know it can feel like there is so much to do, and one person can't affect the Earth that much. But this is part of the problem. We are all part of the problem. 

 

According to the EPA, just one car on the road emits 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. To put this into perspective, it would take 76 tree seedlings grown for 10 years to absorb the carbon produced by one car for a year. The Environmental Protection Agency has also monitored careless everyday actions that are detrimental to the environment and climate change:

 

Keeping the water on while you brush your teeth wastes 8 gallons of water a day.

 

An eight minute shower uses more than 16 gallons of water. 

 

Using an LED light bulb over an incandescent light bulb is equivalent to saving on average 66.3 miles on a car per year.  

 

A gas lawn mower emits 88 lbs of CO2 and 34 lbs of other greenhouse gases every year. 

 

When you throw garbage in the recycling bin, the entire pile is likely to be rejected, which includes all the recycling mixed with yours.

 

Throwing out compostable food into a landfill emits methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. 

 

All of these numbers seem relatively small, but consider your individual use along with the other 7.6 billion people in the world. 

 

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Carr explains that it doesn't take a crunchy environmentalist to fix climate change. It's simple steps towards a cleaner future. It takes everyone's small steps to make a difference. He says that "we don't have to do everything at once, and it's okay to take baby steps. If you could lower your carbon 2% a year by 50 years, it would be great because it would be 0 in 50 years. Don't think you have to do it all at once."

 

Carr's primary focus is on clean air, and he lectures to high schools about the importance of "rightsizing" in the vehicle world. Rightsizing is choosing a car that fits exactly what you have, not what you want. 

 

"The best thing individuals can do is if you don't need a car, don't own a car. Major cities, it's more efficient to take a bus, subway, or uber so one car is shared by a bunch of people. That lowers carbon footprint,” he explains. “If you're in a place that needs a car like Syracuse, buy the car that has the lowest emissions or is the right size for you. Something that drives me crazy is to see these giant pickup trucks and SUVs driving down the road with one person in it. I think that's ridiculous. Drive what you need to drive that works for you."

 

Carr has seemingly channeled his annoyance with car emissions into a lifestyle. Instead of climate change and human error becoming one of his pet peeves, he directed his anger into actions. I realized that while I am silent and irritated by those destroying the environment, Carr is speaking at the White House to fix the problem collectively.

 

Companies and the government will also play a part in helping climate change. Tax reductions on environmentally friendly products and new environmental bans must be put in place. Some of this is out of our control, but for the government, the way we can help is to vote for the environment. The environment is not a political view. As for companies, we are the consumers, and companies tailor their products to us. When we demand environmentally friendly, they provide. Look at what you're buying before you buy it! 

 

On my quest to save the world, I found that I am not a model citizen either. I became vegan for the environment, but I don't always wash recyclables before I put them in the recycling. I turn on my car and don't drive until the steering wheel is warm. I enjoy the AC on an unbearably hot day and leave the heat on overnight in the cold. Part of this is knowing that I do have more time. We are all a part of environmental privilege. 

 

Carr isn't a superhero either. He is a regular person. He eats meat, although not often, and he still drives to work every day. He isn't doing anything different rather than making smarter choices. 

 

Shut off your car when you aren't driving, drive less, pick a car size that is right for you, reduce meat intake, buy electricity from a solar field, compost, eat less meat, recycle, vote for people who believe in science, believe in climate change. These are all tangible changes we can make. 

 

"Just think about that stuff and make better choices. My advice is to continue to educate yourself because there are always better choices."

 

Through Carr, I have learned that it doesn't take perfection to fix the environment. It takes effort, and it takes everyone's effort. It is not one person's responsibility to save the world. One person can't fix this problem. We must all be part of the change. 

 

Carr is insistent on being part of the change everyday. He starts off a typical morning as follows:

 

Outside the Syracuse Center of Excellence, seven police officers sit individually in their cars. Syracuse is calm in the early morning, and the police officers can take a deep breath at New York State's Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems as the seven of them sit in their seven cars, each one of the cars turned on. 

 

Barry Carr, the Clean Cities coordinator, arrives to work, shuts off his hybrid car, and writes down the seven license plates before he marches up to the police officers. The officers glance him up and down and sigh, knowing what's coming.

 

"Good morning, officers! Did you know about the anti-idling law in New York? It states that you can't keep your car on for more than five minutes."

 

Barry knew they understood the law, which meant they would respond with something like emergency responders must keep their vehicles on at all times. Barry knew this was true, but he tested them, "this looks like a new car, is there some reason it won't start?"

 

Barry knew this next part too, which is when he is usually asked to leave. The officers carry on with their conversation, and Barry walks into the building. Nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide come out of their engines, welcoming the unseasonably warm spring weather and disappearing to the ozone. The officers will be back tomorrow, and so will he.

 

Carr's daily routine has given me insight into what I can do next. This fall, when I watched the Dunkin' Donuts bag get thrown into the woods, I scavenged through the trees, picked up the bag, and put it in my pocket. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to lecture someone on something they didn’t care about. If Carr lectures police officers on obeying the law even though it's terrible for the environment, I can tell my friend to keep her trash in her pocket. 

 

I wish I told her that nature is a gift, and we must enjoy it. I wish I told her to care about more than what was weighing in her pocket. I wish I told her the privilege of standing in the Adirondacks and destroying it. I wish I told her to pick up her bag because it's her responsibility too. 

 

Every day Carr goes up to the police officers knowing that they won't turn off their engines. He still does it every day because one of these days, when they're off their shift and get into their cars to drive home, they won't turn it on first to warm it up. Carr does this every day because maybe one day they'll listen.