Let’s be honest, it can be really uncomfortable bringing up climate change at home, with friends, or at work. A coworker of mine was talking recently about a personal smoke infusion device for whiskey drinking. Neat, right? As they were sharing their excitement over it, the thought on repeat in my mind was: “Wow, how unnecessary is that, and how privileged are we?” I couldn’t help but (in the most non-confrontational way I knew how) share this thought while stressing my own hypocrisy for the comment due to my own superfluous interests and adding an apology for being a buzz-kill.
Those of us engaged with climate change, environmental justice, conscious consumerism, sustainability, or related topics will no doubt have their own versions of this story: an attempt to talk about the guilty feelings of privilege, an acknowledgment of our own hypocrisy for bringing it up, and an inevitable apology for bringing up something heavy.
I know that it won’t be the last time, but I’d like to say that I’m done apologizing and censoring myself to prevent “uncomfortable” situations. Frankly, censorship in such scenarios is a selfish decision. More often than not, the short-term social discomfort of confronting reality and bringing up hard truths pales in comparison to the future discomfort, suffering, tragedy, and death that will follow (most likely for others who are not participants in the “uncomfortable” conversation) if those truths are not recognized and acted upon.
I’m not advocating wholly disregarding social niceties and raining on everybody’s parade whenever you have such a thought, but to add perspective on how those tough conversations, and the discomfort that goes along with them, may sometimes be necessary. Suppose we stay silent and keep ourselves small. In that case, those topics that cause internal discomfort will inevitably continue to happen around us. At the same time, unsustainable actions will continue to proliferate because they go unchallenged, thereby growing the inevitable tragedy that results from the proliferation of unsustainable actions.
In case you need a little ammo for that next conversation, consider this. For the same price as a low-end whiskey smoker on Amazon, you could give the gift of a flock of ducks, a flock of chickens, or even a honeybee colony to a family in need through the Heifer Foundation. Let me phrase that a different way… For the same cost of making your whiskey taste a little smokier, you could instead help provide a family with much-needed food security and an income stream that leads to a better life. I think that a lot of people would choose the latter if they were reminded that they had the option, and that would make the world a much better place.