大象传媒

I am that person . Ever since I had kids and began reading about feedback loops, there just hasn鈥檛 been time for TV. When I do find a moment, I鈥檓 always a beat behind the zeitgeist. Unsurprisingly, no one wants to talk to me about Fleabag a year after they鈥檝e bagged the show. So, finding myself with a bit of staycation time this week, I decided to push newer stuff to the top of my to-watch list. I鈥檇 be au courant, if only for one week of my AV life.

I loved , mostly enjoyed , and am savoring my way through . And yet I was hit with the same feeling I have when I watch anything now鈥�where is climate? 

I know people don鈥檛 generally speak to the issues of the day mid-movie. I don鈥檛 expect characters to break the wall and turn to the camera, a la Frank Underwood, to talk to me about BLM or income inequality or climate or Kanye. But there鈥檚 something about a piece of contemporary art that doesn鈥檛 acknowledge the existential, in even the most abstractly metaphorical of ways. Yes, books and films are written and shot well ahead of time, but not that well ahead. This stuff is in the air (literally). I just want Andy Samberg to make an aside about how he鈥檚 lucky to be caught in an infinite loop because…climate change. Is that too much to ask?

Of course, this is one of my thought grooves, something I come back to the way other people muse on whether they鈥檇 be embarrassed if they were found dead in their current state (eating a bag of cheezies, wearing a regrettable muumuu, watching Nailed it). Instead, I wonder what people will think when they comb our cultural artifacts. They were living through the sixth extinction and all they did was tweet jokes about Goya beans? 

But if this is a rote thought-path for me, The King of Staten Island sparked a slightly novel detour (thank you, Pete Davidson!). It鈥檚 a twist on the  or the idea that there are only so many pressing problems we can focus on at a time. What if the issue is not that we鈥檙e overloaded with mammoth, existential woes aplenty, but simply that mere living these days (with more work, more responsibility, and less social support) precludes us from thinking very much beyond ourselves? Just getting through the day, even with a loving family and good friends, often takes up all our bandwidth. Which explains why Pete鈥檚 character smokes a lot of pot and listens to Kid Cudi. Despite non-life-threatening emergencies, it takes all his energy just to get by. Of course the warming of the planet doesn鈥檛 figure into that mindscape. It鈥檚 a more human take than 鈥榩eople just don鈥檛 care.鈥� Pete鈥檚 just got everyday crap to deal with, like what to do with his life.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO WHAT I AM REALLY TRYING TO SAY

I鈥檝e been thinking a lot about the cognitive burden of climate, and how upstream policy change would lessen it. Despite literally having all the time in the world (Palm Springs is basically Groundhog Day set in the desert), Andy Samberg doesn鈥檛 have time to think about climate. And, in some ways, neither do I. When I buy groceries, I don鈥檛 want to perform mental calculus at each decision point鈥攖rying, with limited knowledge, to guess which option is least harmful to the planet.

I鈥檝e recently been revisiting  in search of clarity on choice overload, and while there鈥檚 not much research on environmental decision fatigue, it鈥檚 easy to see that layering in another variable (carbon footprint) only makes life EVEN MORE IMPOSSIBLY COMPLICATED. I want policy to figure out the best way to solve that problem, so I can live my life like Pete Davidson. Minus the ill-advised tattoos.

The less government policy does, the more we, as citizens have to do on our own. With climate change, the burden of action has fallen, unevenly, to individuals. This, when simple mechanisms such as a price on carbon, better public transit, and the incentivizing of deep home retrofits and EV purchases would dramatically reduce consumer burden, and mental fatigue. 

A term I dance back to over and over again is human flourishing. It鈥檚 when we鈥檙e being our truest selves, . But it鈥檚 hard to get to human flourishing when you have to slalom through systemic oppression, deep inequality, and the myriad impossible life and consumer choices that have been offloaded to the individual. No wonder we鈥檙e all exhausted. 

THIS WEEK

Do you think about the presence of climate or lack thereof in the culture you consume or the convos you overhear? LMK!

LAST WEEK

Writes Saara: 鈥淚 liked the newsletter! I even liked you being angry for BP, that was for a good reason. But I sort of disagree that the concept of carbon footprint was bad and only guilt tripping. I think it has now grown bigger than that.鈥� 

Saara is totally right. I didn鈥檛 mean to say that caring about carbon footprints aren鈥檛 important. It鈥檚 bigger than spin, and I still believe that the little ladders up to the big. And also that we feel good when we do right. So there are numerous reasons to turn down the thermostat.

Also, helpful thoughts and good context from Laura:
鈥漈hanks for this eye opener. The Mashable article is a good reminder of how insidiously and ubiquitously the fossil fuel industry distorts useful concepts. However, it鈥檚 a bit misleading. BP may have originated the 鈥渃arbon footprint鈥� propaganda, but they can hardly be said to have invented the concept. It goes back to the 鈥渆cological footprint,鈥� which was conceived much more broadly than as a tool for individuals. As I recall from my first encounter with it in the 1990s, the inventors described it mainly in terms of cities, showing that a city鈥檚 impacts are much larger than the land on which it sits or even the downwind/downstream areas it pollutes. Mathis Wackernagel and the  still emphasize nations and communities in their ongoing work to foster this kind of systems thinking.鈥�

PEOPLE DANCING

:

https://www.tiktok.com/@vikashrockstardance/video/6815431402322939138?lang=en

GOOD STUFF

. Worth a listen!

!

. (Carrots FTW!)

My  suggests hitting the HEART at the top of this post is algorithmically important, so if you like this newsletter, please do so!

Have a wonderful week in this beautiful world,
Sarah

P.S. This is my newsletter for the week of July 23, 2020, published in partnership with 大象传媒 Media You can sign up to get Minimum Viable Planet newsletter emailed directly to you at .