The Cow in the Room of Climate Talks | #19
& sharing my kind of RCTs
Hi friends! I hope you’re well! :)
I took this photo last weekend. Don’t let the sun fool you! It’s averaging -5 to 5°C the past week. Every time I walk out of school, it’s a race against time for refuge indoors. I feel the cold air from my nostrils all the way to my lungs; breathing has become borderline painful. And it gets worse with the wind. I tried to capture the frost on the fallen leaves in this photo, but like I said I was in a rush, trying to minimize the time my hands were exposed, so this is what I got.
A big thank you to those of you who reached out after my newsletter last week. I really appreciate you.❤️
In today’s newsletter:
The loudest silence in a roomful of environmentalists
A blue jeans factory in southern China
My kind of RCT: Toilets 🧻
Have I been in an echo chamber?
Last week I attended an event in school about how Prince George nonprofits, for-profit organizations, and students can work together to advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Amongst the few local nonprofits introduced at this event, two were more directly related to the environment: Everyone At the Table works on reducing food waste, and the UNBC Students for a Green University wants to start a food composting program at school.
I am by no means trying to criticize other people’s work⏤food waste is an important piece of the puzzle, and I’m glad people are working in it.
And YET.
Nobody mentioned the role of animal agriculture at the 2.5-hour event.
If we remove animal agriculture at source, we reduce a ton more waste, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and resource use. But of course, animal agriculture is neglected in the crowded seminar room. (This isn’t an isolated case. See here and here.)
I shouldn’t be surprised by now. The world is far from being an animal-friendly place. But I was! In that seminar room, I felt like I was on a different frequency than most other people. Which led me to think that maybe I’ve been staying in an echo chamber of animal advocates for too long.
On my social media platforms, most people I reach either agree with veganism and animal protection, or are veg*ns (I use “veg*n” to refer to vegans and vegetarians) themselves already.
But the world animal advocates are trying to transform is much bigger.
And I need to be grounded and diplomatic, if I want to open the hearts and minds of people who are perhaps not yet sympathetic to the animal cause.
As a side effect, I think these observations distracted me from the negative thoughts I had last week about my burnout. The need for animal advocacy work, or work that’s inclusive of nonhuman animals, added fuel to my dwindling flame.❤️🔥
Where your jeans probably come from
For my econ class last week, we watched the 2005 documentary China Blue. The film is a bit dated, and I generally knew that garment factories and the modern fashion industry aren’t exactly known for their ethical practices, but it still got me a bit emotional. It felt very much like a story told from the protagonist’s point of view (who, at the time of filming, was a 17-year old girl, i.e. more or less a kid to me). You can watch the film below starting from 01:00:
As a content creator and someone who’d pondered making a documentary, the notes on the film’s website about the challenges during the production process were equally (if not more) fascinating, and added to my appreciation of the film and crew. Read them here.
My kind of RCT (Random Canadian Things): Toilets
To be fair, not all Canadian toilets are like this; but the following observations apply to the majority of toilets I’ve seen in school and shopping malls.
Big gaps everywhere: at the door, at the bottom of doors, and between stalls. Apparently I’m not the only one who feels uncomfortable about this.
There’s no lid! To avoid water droplets in the flushing toilet from hitting me, I now escape from the stall as soon as I finish, and before the automatic flusher starts. I mean, have you seen what happens when you flush a toilet without lid?😵
I’ve seen some purported justifications for these big gaps and the lack of lids, and I’m not really convinced. If you live in Canada/North America, what do you think of these designs?🤔 Leave a comment if you want to share your insights!
Closing thoughts
Thank you so much for reading and subscribing. This is all from me this week. It’s probably getting chiller if you’re in the Northern hemisphere. (At the time of writing, the first snow just landed in Prince George!❄️) So stay warm, stay well, and see you next week!
Love,
Angel 💙
LOL I did the exact same thing in public toilets when i was doing my semester abroad in the States. And that was during the worst Covid wave in HK.