Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have increased by nearly 50 percent. Ocean acidity levels have increased by 30 percent. The combined ice mass of Greenland and Antarctica has decreased by an average of 427 billion tons per year.
Just under 100 million tons of textile waste are sent to the landfill each year. The Linn County landfill is expected to be full by 2036 — eight years sooner than Linn County planned. Concerns of the health effects of nitrate water pollution in Iowa have grown amid the 2023 report that Iowa has the second highest cancer rate in the country and one of only states with a rising cancer rate.
So, it’s no wonder nearly half of Americans feel their actions have no impact on climate change. But these facts and statistics are not a condemnation. A grave warning, undeniably, but not something we must submit to and accept as inevitable, a lesson learned from last week’s environmental celebration of Earth Week.
Last week featured Earth Day on the 22 and Arbor Day on the 26, with organized activities promoting sustainability and environmental awareness. Activities included a “Free Market” movie night screening and panel of “The Jungle,” a tree planting, a “Trash Crawl” campus clean up, and an Earth Week show at AlleyCat. All donations earned — $200 in total — were donated to the Bur Oak Land Trust, a local environmental nonprofit.
The “Free Market” event was especially successful as many students showed up to donate old or unwanted clothing items, and others came to claim and give said items a new life, free of cost, saving them from the landfill.
The events were organized by the university’s Environmental Coalition, EnCo, a student organization dedicated to the environment and sustainability. Jacqueline Fuentes, the organization’s co-president, estimated the number of students and community members impacted to be at least in the hundreds.
Earth Day, Arbor Day, and the University of Iowa’s Earth Week emphasize the importance of climate optimism and awareness and suggest that despite waning hope, we care, and there’s something to be done.
“Earth Week serves as a reminder that climate change is real, and we have attainable and equitable solutions to fight it,” Fuentes said. “With constant misinformation and the increasing feelings of pessimism and being overwhelmed, EnCo’s focus for Earth Week was to foster environmental appreciation and hope, as it is the first and important step for implementing real change.”
Real change starts small with actions and decisions that collectively build toward a greater whole. For students, this may involve only taking small food portions at dining halls and going back for more as necessary to avoid food waste. It may mean returning to the basics for deciding which items belong in the recycling, trash, and compost. It may mean choosing to opt into composting bins for the dorms, reducing usage of artificial intelligence, or eating less meat. It involves taking the bus, or better yet, walking or biking around campus. Becoming more sustainable means reconsidering our daily schedules and identifying what can be changed.
“The best thing for a student to do is to be informed, be involved, and make smart and sustainable decisions,” EnCo’s co-president Anthony Mortale said. “Having a better understanding of politics and policy can be daunting, especially right now, but it really helps inform a person on what’s going on. Once you know what specifically is happening, you can find better ways to engage. Getting involved, whether it’s through student organizations or local politics, can give you access to more people and resources to effect change in your community.”
Optimism isn’t an easy or simple stance to take. There’s strong reasoning and evidence for climate pessimism, and the topic can be overwhelming and anxiety-inducing to face. But it’s just not productive. Climate optimism doesn’t mean ignoring reality but refocusing energies and examining all realities because the truth is even though the climate situation is dire, it is recoverable to some degree, and that degree starts with each and every one of us.
To cope with possible feelings of anxiety and stress caused by climate pessimism in the media, Fuentes recommended students use marine biologist and policy expert Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s Climate Action Venn Diagram, a tool that helps determine what actions are attainable for individuals looking to help improve the environment.
“Individual action matters, which is why you must take care of yourself,” Fuentes said.
The Environment.co, an online publication of op-eds focused on the environment, recommends maintaining and spreading climate optimism by removing negative or pessimistic language from speech, focusing on humanity’s successes and capabilities to induce solutions, staying educated and helping others to become so as well, and focusing on the invisible wins that might not produce the instant gratification but are still wins and a step in the right direction.
Tangible evidence of the impact of individual and cooperative action remains all around us. In an Iowa City Council Meeting on April 15, Iowa City Parks and Recreation Director Julie Sid Johnson noted that since she arrived in Iowa City in January of 2016, over 6,000 trees have been planted around the city.
“At a time where there’s so much uncertainty around us and things happening, around what’s going to happen in the future, you’ve had 6,000 pieces of hope planted throughout [Iowa City] to grow into the future,” Johnson said.
Going forward, cliché as it may be, we need to treat every day like Earth Day. We need to focus on what we can do, not what we can’t, won’t, or don’t do. Baby steps still get us somewhere, farther than standing still or moving backward. And any parent will tell you that babies can move pretty fast, no matter their limited stride.