I could hear the repetitive thought circling my brain as I tried to enjoy the summer weather this July: we can’t ignore global warming now… Central California and the Bay Area have recently undergone severe heat waves in early July, with heat warnings surfacing throughout California on July 4th weekend. Weather reports reveal that the Central Valley endured the worst of the heat wave in early July with temperatures ranging from the 90s to the 110s. Notably, several temperature records were broken on July 4th weekend in the Bay Area and Central Valley towns, including Fresno, Oakland, and San Jose. Additionally, the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner/Coroner's Office said it was investigating 19 potentially heat-related deaths since July 1. Although the San Francisco temperatures statistics have been low in comparison to these extreme temperatures, the hot 70s to high 80s are irregular for its typical overcast and misty summer climate. Overall, these intense heat waves have shifted the summer climate of the Bay Area to about 20 degrees hotter than average.
As many of you know, global warming is an aspect of climate change – the excessive gas within Earth's atmosphere traps in sun rays, creating a sweltering “greenhouse effect” that increases global temperatures every year. When I feel this shift in the environment, it immediately reminds me of all of the work that needs to be done. I picture spreading climate awareness through loud protests, changing fossil fuel policies, and getting communities involved in cleaning their surrounding environments. I wondered how the other residents of the Bay Area were feeling about the severe weather impacting their lives. Surely skeptics would have a hard time denying this shift – and regular people would have climate change on their minds throughout their day of avoiding the heat. My hope was that by feeling the evidence of the effects of climate change, people might be motivated to start integrating more sustainable habits into their lives. But, the problem for most people is that they might have global warming on their minds, but might not know the next steps to it.
I interviewed Salihah Cann-Polentz, an incoming high school senior in San Francisco that has been traveling between the city and Oakland to participate in a course about sustainable architecture this summer. She too noticed the intense heat, and remembered her conversations with some of her peers who came to visit the Bay Area for the course. She told me, “they asked me if this heat was normal for San Francisco, and I said, ‘absolutely not.’” I agreed, feeling like normal San Francisco weather, especially in the early summer, was typically foggy and in the low 60s. Cann-Polentz then mentioned that in her conversation with her classmates about the weather, they mentioned climate change and expressed concerns with the global rising temperatures. However, then the conversation drifted to other topics, and they never discussed what climate activists typically hope to be the next step in climate conversations: realistic and actionable climate solutions. Cann-Polentz noted that they didn’t feel like anything they said would be useful in a climate change solution brainstorm. “We didn’t feel educated enough to make a difference,” she added.
This sparked a conversation between us about climate education within the school curriculum. Cann-Polenz and I both agreed that the scientific basics of climate change were taught, along with what felt like “band-aid solutions” – temporary and usually unhelpful solutions: taking shorter showers, carpooling, picking up trash, eating local, and recycling. This education about climate advocacy felt superficial and impersonal—recommendations that were futile and almost impossible for some students to participate in. Often, these “solutions” are dismissed by the general public with the rationalization that they are too much work for very little impact. To be honest, I don’t blame them.
Along with the “not worth the trouble” reasoning (either a subconscious or conscious thought), I also believe that the general public hasn’t found an interest in climate advocacy. This is realistic; everyone has different interests. However, climate activists need to make clear that being disinterested in climate activism can no longer be an option. If we want to make change for the better, we need full-community effort.
While I pondered this, Cann-Polentz then reflected on her classes at the sustainable architecture program. She told me the excitement of her peers during required group discussions about sustainability and how they can implement them in their lives. She laughed when my eyes lit up about this. The group of students that previously avoided the topic of climate solutions after a brief mention of global warming was suddenly excited to study it! The reason? It was in their field of interest.
This opened my mind up to a broader perspective on activism: it is not isolated to going to protests, holding outdoor workshops, or beach cleanups. Environmentalism can and should be intersectional!
So, I encourage climate activists to keep two things in mind: 1) Use the tangible effects of climate change around us to empower your communities to participate in activism, and 2) Encourage the public to lean into what they love and what they are good at when they participate in activism.
For Cann-Polentz, this meant sustainable architecture. For a friend of mine, it means participating in government policy and advocating for environmentally displaced communities. For another friend of mine, it meant sustainable fashion and making her own clothes. For me, it means growing different fruits and vegetables in my garden, saving trips to the grocery store. I wonder, if we all were to do the part meant for us, what would the world look like?
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