Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hello and welcome to
environmentalism. For beginners. My name is test mean Huntsman, and I usually make
classes on here about writing as I am a full-time
freelance creative. And I'm also an author of books like the eloquence
of hurricanes, welcome home dear soul, which has a new cover, the anatomy of waves. So usually I talk about writing and being a creative
here on Skillshare. But today's class is going
to be a little bit different because I am not only an author and a
creative and a creator, but I'm also an
environmentalist and I've been working in the environmental
space for some time now. But I still consider
myself on the journey of becoming my full potential
environmentalist, if you will. And I know how it
feels like to stand in the beginning of
this very journey that is so overwhelming. And that is why I wanted to make a class about
it to help you get started on a journey of more sustainability and
more environmentalism. And if you are wondering why the **** I'm sitting outside where the sun is messing
up my lighting and you have all the
background noise. That is because I currently unfortunately do not
have a filming set up because I don't have an
office because I don't have a whole I'm not homeless. I just don't have a home-based right now
because my partner and I have been renovating a
traditional island home on the Azores archipelago
where I moved. If you want to
follow that journey, I'm also a YouTube creator, so you can go check those
videos out if you want to. But it's been going a lot
slower than anticipated and I don't have a space
to fill but outside. And to be honest, it is actually quite fitting
for the topic to be outside in the environment talking
about environmentalism. So my apologies if you
can hear the wind or the leaves were oscillating
or maybe a car passing by. And if the sun is
changing how I look. But yeah, that's what
we're going to work with. And I think that's already
a great first lesson, that nature sometimes is a bit unpredictable as his life and
we just need to embrace it. A few words about this
class before we begin. While I do consider myself to be an environmentalist,
I of course, do not know every little thing about the climate crisis or
what you can do about it. There are amazing activists out there that you
should check out and you should also branch
out in the areas that you have an interest in
to start your journey. This here, what I'm
trying to create with this class is
really just a baseline to tackle that feeling of being overwhelmed by the crisis
and not knowing what to do. I'm here to guide you through
the first couple of steps, but I'm not here
to explain to you exactly why things
are the way they are, or to say this is how
to do it and there is no other way I have written on this journey for a
couple of years now, but I am still learning
every single day. And dad is really also something that I can also
already give to you. And that is the fact
that the journey doesn't start and end with a single
day or a single decision. It is something that
continuously grows. And we all continuously learn and develop
and change things. And this class really just
trying to help you to make those first steps and understand where
you can get started. With that being said, let's go.
2. Class Project: As I've already mentioned
in the introduction, this journey to
environmentalism or a life that is more in alignment with the environment and
with sustainability, is a journey that
takes awhile and comes in many different forms and often in many
different steps. Which is why the
class project is also divided into three little steps, but you can all share
them in a single post under the Project and
Resources tab down below. First step, I would love to know how your ideal world
would look like. You can just write it down
in a single short sentence. Or you can maybe share some art that you created or poetry. Anything you'd like. Just share with us how the
world would look like if you could create it and if it was a much better
world than it is now, the second step of the class
project is to share with us how you are already having some sustainable
habits in your life. This can be as small as picking up litter on
the way to the subway, or as big as leading a protest or starting a
self-sufficient farm. Whatever it may be, as small or as big
as your actions are. I would love to know what you are already doing before
the class begins. What are you already doing to create this better world
that you are dreaming off? And the third and final part of the class project
is that I would love to know what you think. Are your next steps
going to look like? How are you going to improve
what you're already doing? Or just in general, what
are your next steps on your environmentalism
journey made inspired by this class or bead, inspired also by
your peers sharing their own journeys down
under the project below, I'm so excited to
hear from you getting conversation with you see
all of your projects, read about your ILD ideal worlds and you know how we can all create a better
future together. Again, please don't forget
that even the smallest steps are completely valid and
important and needed. And there's no judgment here. And yeah, I'm just excited to
get inspired by all of you.
3. WHY you should care: Now that you know
who I am and how the class project is
going to look like. I wanted to take the opportunity
and just discuss why environmentalism
is important and why your action matters. Because if you're not already
active in that field, you might ask yourself, why is environmentalism
even important? Why, why should I care? First of all, that
is, of course, a question that
everyone needs to answer for themselves
in a personal mentor, maybe you care because
you have children. You want to provide a
better world for them. Or maybe your younger self and you want to have
a better future. Or maybe you have seen some
of the destruction or have learned about what is happening
with the climate crisis. Maybe a hurricane has
wrecked your home, whatever it may be. There are billion
personal reasons why you might care about this issue or why you should
care about this issue? I cannot answer your
personal why question. I'm sure once you sit
with the question, you will find an answer. And I know I can also
not change your mind. If you do not care, you do not care. But since you click
on this class, I'm pretty sure you do, at least a part of you does. And if you are one of
those people who still has some doubts of why
environmentalism is important. Let me explain, basically the climate crisis and everything that is
connected to it, from biodiversity loss
to social injustices, is something that affects
every single one of us. Even if you personally
have not experienced something specific that you can pinpoint to the climate crisis. It is affecting you in
passive and very active ways. And the fight for
a better world and against the climate crisis
or environmentalism, or however you want to call it, is a fight for our planet, which is our home. And it is a fight
for our future. And you might be like, yes, Tasman, I get that. But I'm just a
single individual. What am I supposed to do
to have any impact at all? And that is a very
good question. I have been at the
same point for a very long time and I come to this point over and over again. Because this whole crisis, especially the more
you learn about it, it's just so
overwhelming and scary. And it is completely valid
to feel overwhelmed, scared, and in grief over
what has already lost. But let me tell you that
every single fighter, every single person,
every single action as small as it may be, counts, every single
one of us is important, not only because all
the things we do have an impact and also can cause
a ripple effect of course. But also because
the more we are, the more power we have. A huge reason why the climate
crisis is the way it is, is because of power imbalances. And that is also
why it's so often feels like we don't
have any power and we cannot do anything about it because It's the politicians and the companies and
the big players out there who have the power. And so I might not be
able to change much. But here's the thing. The more of us come together, the more of this power
imbalance disappears. And maybe at this
point in your life, you say you don't want to be an activist or maybe
you just don't have the time to be a
full-time activist or an environmentalist to get all deep into the topic or
to be at every protest. And that's also okay. You do not need to be a
full-time activist to be an environmentalist or to be more environmentally
friendly, to live more sustainable and more in alignment
and therefore fight for a better future. You also do not need
to be an expert on every single topic that is connected to the
climate crisis and all it's things that are connected that is
pretty impossible to be informed about everything as the issue is so complex. So drop those worries,
drop the expectations. You are good enough and
all your actions matter, even if they're small, you can still consider
yourself an activist. If you do things with intention, if you move towards a better world actively and think about the
things that you do and do educate
yourself however slow and however specific this
may look like for you. Lastly, you might ask yourself, isn't Hope already lost, isn't it too late? And I'm here to tell
you, no, it's not. Hope is not lost. Every day, more and more
people are waking up to this crisis and are
doing more and more, more and more
alternative solutions, innovations are being made. And hope is not lost. I know it can sum,
the wind agrees. I know it's sometimes
can feel like it. I have been at this point so many times I stopped counting. But hope is not lost. It's not too late. But if we don't act soon, it might be at some point.
4. Everyday Environmentalism: Now that we have
established why it is so important that we all act
and that hope is not lost. Let's talk about everyday
environmentalism. Small things that each
one of us can do. As a little disclaimer, I've got to say that
all of our lives and experiences and opportunities
look different. Some things that I
might be able to do, you might not be able
to do and vice versa. So of course, it is a
very individual thing and you need to navigate
in your own life, your opportunities and
your possibilities of how to implement environmentalism into
your daily life. However, there is
no excuse not to at least try to
change your life, your everyday life
in little ways. And those things
might not even seem that impactful at first glance. But if a lot of us
are doing this, the impact is massive. And again, every small action counts
I'm repeating myself, but it is important. I have summarized seven
key areas that you can start with to implement environmentalism into
your daily life. First lab, question, everything. This might be the most
important step of all of them. And that is really
to go ahead and ask questions and be critical. This does not mean that you
do not trust anyone anymore. This does not mean
that you don't believe people or stories anymore
or that everything is fake. That is not what this means. It just means that you
start to ask questions, especially when someone or
something once your money. I mean, critical
questions like, oh, does planting trees to set off my carbon footprint really work? Does the company I
buy product X from? Do they do fair business? Do they try to be better? Do they hurt humans
or the environment? What, or who is behind a
certain certificate or study? It is questions like this that make a huge difference
in your life. That doesn't mean you cannot
still buy the product, but it is important that
you start thinking critical to small actions
make the difference. I've talked about
this already in this class multiple times. But if you just don't
know where to start, start with these type of small actions and work
your way up from there. It can be as simple
as picking up trash, reducing waste, eating
more plant-based, buying local and purchasing or less or second-hand,
if you can, if every one of
us was just doing a few small little
habit changes, the world would already
look vastly different. Three, educate yourself. Constant education is absolutely crucial for an environmental
conscious alive. And that does not
mean that you go to university and study
environmental studies, or that you only read
non-fiction science books? Not at all. First of all, if
you are into books, there are climate
fiction books, e.g. but you don't need
to read books at all or studies or articles, whatever media format works
best for you to learn. Just pick it, watch
documentaries, follow influencers online. Learn more about indigenous
people or again, follow some indigenous
people online. All these kind of things. Knowledge is everywhere. And you can just start wherever
it feels best for you. You do not need a degree, but you need curiosity
and open-mind and the determination to always
seek out more to learn. Continue to educate
yourself like you're doing right in this second as
you're watching this class. So thank you for already
doing the first step. For start conversations. This is either the easiest or the hardest
task on this list. For me personally, it
is by far hands down the hardest task and
something that I still need to learn
and improve on. But for other people, this comes very easy. And it is very
important to start conversations about
the climate crisis, possible solutions
and things that each one of us can
do to improve. This does not mean you
need to fight with your relatives
during the holiday. This just means to
have conversations, either calling someone out, but it can also just
be a conversation with other like-minded
people or with friends. Or just, again, just a simple discussion without pointing
fingers are saying this and this is how you need
to do it because that often doesn't get you the
result that you want to meet people where they're at. But however you do it, just use your voice. Five, support activists
and organizations. As I said, not all of us can be full-time activist
and that is okay. But all of us can support activists and
organizations that have dedicated their life and their work to the
environment and the planet. This can happen in
the form of donating money or resources or your
time for volunteering. But it doesn't need to. Sometimes, especially in
the age of social media, it is as easy as
following those people online and liking their content and sharing it with others. Another thing that is just as quick and easy and
doesn't cost you a sense of money
and not a lot of your time is signing petitions. Six, take it seriously. If you truly want to become an environmentalist
or someone that just lives more in alignment with nature or tries to
create a better world, you need to take the
situation seriously. The whole climate crisis
fight is not a trend, it is an emergency
and it is very, very real and need to
be treated as such. It involves taking
the whole issue truly seriously and also acknowledging your
privilege and power in the situation or
the lack thereof. But it also means to not give
up the hope to constantly expand your efforts and education and to take care
of your mental health. But more on that later
seven, being more cautious, we all need to become more cautious when it comes
to our decisions, our habits, and our intentions. For this beginner's
Skillshare class, I have three topics that I would like to talk
about more that you should be more cautious
in these three topics are nature, plastic,
and consumption. And we're going to talk about
them in the next lessons.
5. Consumption Habits: First up is the area of
consumption in your life. There is this big quote often going around
saying there is no ethical consumption
under capitalism. And this might be true, but it is unfortunately often used as an excuse
to just continue as you have always done and to consume like
you have always done. But that is a problem now that that x cubed
is out of the way. And before we dive further
into the topic of consumption, there's a little
disclaimer I need to make. The way we consume is a choice, but it is one that can be drastically limited
by the availability of alternatives and personal as well as
financial circumstances. As long as you do
whatever you can, you are doing enough. Consumption is a
very broad field that affects pretty much
every area of our lives, but the one that
probably affects us the most and pretty much
on a daily basis. Our groceries, groceries are a difficult
topic because of course, we all need food and drink and the whole
food production system is pretty broken and it is very hard to escape that
and make good choices. I will not get very
deep into this. But the bottom line is that
basically nothing that you can buy an irregular
supermarket is sustainable. That is a very sad truth, and unfortunately something
that is hard to escape. But there are some
things that you can do. First of all, you can
change your nutrition and move towards a
more plant-based diet. This does not mean
you need to be vegan, but it can mean that if
that is something for you, I personally am not vegan, but I always try to be aware
where my food comes from, which impacted has, and
how I can do it better. And I'm also growing a
part of my food myself. You can also try to focus on eating more locally
and more seasonally. If you e.g. have a
farmer's market nearby and can afford to
buy the products they're trying to do so. You can also learn how to
cook from scratch and with leftovers to reduce
food waste and get a closer connection
to what you eat. And in the same vein, you can learn how to
grow your own food. Even if you do not
have a backyard, you can grow herbs and low maintenance plants inside your apartment or
on your balcony. You can also learn
more about how certain foods are grown and make your
decisions from there. It will never be perfect, but it will always be more
cautious than before. The next area of consumption that I would
like to talk about is just the general
thing of shopping. This has become a huge thing in our capitalistic
consumerist society. And it is something that
we can drastically reduce, at least most of us. When I talk about shopping, I talk about all
the things you can possibly talk about from
tech to home decor. But of course, the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word shopping is
fashion and beauty. And unfortunately, the fashion and beauty industry is one of the biggest polluters off the planet and really
needs to be tackled. What you can do is
to realize that shopping is, in most cases, I'm not saying in all cases, but in most cases, shopping is an absolute luxury
and not always necessary. The bottom line of
it all is we need to consume less every one of us. But if you do need to
buy things questioned to brands and industry
that you buy from. And if you really want to
support them with your money, do not blindly
believe marketing. And if you can try and
go through lifting, renting, or supporting
local small businesses. Of course, switching to more sustainable brands
is a great first step, but it is not accessible for everyone and does not
solve the real problem. We need to change the
way we consume and buy less new things in order
to truly have an impact. For this, you can e.g. learn how to fix or recycle
your own clothes or maybe even make your own
wellness products or clothing. And all of that can
be a game changer. And finally, where your
clothes until they fall apart. Yes, I know decluttering
your closet feel so refreshing and great. But throwing clothes away
or even donating them with, which is its own issue that we're not
talking about today. Don't really solve the problem. They only create new ones. And if you just
wear what you have, you are already doing so much. For all purchases,
be at clothing, beauty, cars, work your tools, media, online
subscriptions, takeaway, food, toys, hair dye, all of the things. Everything follows
the same rules. Ask questions. Inform yourself. Check alternatives, check
if it is truly needed. Beware of greenwashing and
make the best choice. You can. Ask yourself, which areas
of your life are you willing to cut back on
and start from there?
6. Interactions with Nature: Now that we have tackled
the topic of consumption, let's talk about our
interactions with nature. First up, we need to realize
that we are in fact nature. I am not separate from
the plants behind me and the animals surrounding me in the air I breathe and
the water I drink. We are all nature. It is not separate from us. It is also not a nice background for your photos and videos. Those things are
ecosystems and they are alive in so many
incredible ways. Treat all nature from the waterfall and
the mighty mountain all the way down to the bugs. With respect. And remember that all of this is our home, yours and mine. And that all things
that are alive here are some things that you can do to improve your interactions
with nature. Do not leave any waste. And if you see waist,
take it with you. Do not pick or take flowers, stones, or sand at Will. You are not the
only one doing it, and therefore it is harmful. Do not go into wild
areas unless you have a professional local guide
or are on a designated path, do not support zoos, aquariums, wildlife
tourist attraction, etc. Unless you're 100% certain that they are not having a bad
impact on the environment. Spend as much time as
you can in nature, but do it mindfully and without harming the
environment by flying, leaving garbage, and so on. Ask yourself how to bring nature back into your living area so you can establish a
strong relationship and a strong bond with nature. Educate yourself on endemic
plants and animals in your home region and
support the people who are fighting to protect them or
to try to bring them back. If you are on the American
or Australian continent, find out which indigenous
group the land you live on or that you're
visiting belongs to. Do not poison water
with any chemicals, bead, bleach, or color
or pharmaceuticals. Support your local nature. Protectors support clean energy, recognized nature
as our home parent and as an equal with the
same rights to life, joy, and peace as us.
7. What about Plastic: We have already talked about
consumption in nature, but what about plastic? This topic seems
to be everywhere, especially when it comes to
environmental discussions. So let's talk about it. Plastic is everywhere as you're
looking at me right now, it is in my glasses, in my clothes on the
microphone I'm wearing. It is everywhere and it
is pretty much impossible to live a completely
plastic free life nowadays, this is unfortunately
a huge problem as most plastic cannot be
recycled or composted, which means the plastic bottle that you just drink
your water out of. We'll still be around decades
after you have passed on. Also, there are a lot
of different types of plastics and some are
worse than others. Plastic is a very
complex topic that needs a lot of education
to be fully understood. And it is a very morally
gray thing as plastic has also enabled us to do
a lot of great things. As a beginner, all you really
need to know is reduce, reuse, and refuse as
much as possible.
8. Creativity & the Climate: Now that we have discussed
the key elements on how to become
more sustainable, I want to take one
of these lessons to quickly talk about
creativity and climate. As you are on Skillshare, you are probably a creative
person, which is awesome. Im2, welcome to because you can use your skills,
talents, Hobbes, end, maybe even work if you are a full-time artist
to have an impact. And the possibilities for
this are almost endless. But some of the
things you can do are send a direct message about today's issues in whatever
it is you are creating. Explore history or potential future
scenarios in your work. Creates something
that gives hope. Get involved in projects for a better world like
rewriting extinction, the climate fiction
writers League, and so on. Alternatively, you can
also create escapism, which is important for our
collective mental health. And finally, make your work
as sustainable as possible. If you want to get more
in-depth about the crossover between creativity and
creating during a crisis. I recommend you check
out my other class, which is about creating
during a crisis. Just know that whatever
you do in your creativity, if you consider the crisis and the possible better future, you are already an activist. And that is amazing.
9. Political Activism: Another topic that I also just briefly want to mention
is political activism, as this is a very personal thing that also looks different depending on where you live and what your political
opinions are. But your local environmentalists can probably provide you with a lot more information
if you want to become active in the
political space, the only thing I
am going to say is that ignorance is political too. If you're doing
nothing because you're afraid or politics seem
too big to tackle. You're still having an impact and probably not the one
that you would like. You do not have to become a
politician to change things. Although you can,
if you'd like to, as a regular citizen
in most countries, you can do the following. Vote, preferably for someone who has the planet
on their agenda. Signed petitions,
go to protests, support organizations that
actively work with the law. Organized protests, make
petitions, et cetera. Vote with your money. Speak up, be it on social media, in private conversations
or in other forums. And finally, educate yourself
on intersectionality, which is the next thing
I'm going to talk about.
10. Intersectionality: Intersectionality is
something that is incredibly important
for all areas of life, but especially when
it comes to activism, and that includes the
climate activism. But what does intersectionality
mean exactly? Intersectionality means the
interconnected nature of social categorization such
as race, class, and gender, as they apply to a given
individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and
interdependent systems of discrimination
or disadvantage. It basically means that
the lived experience of a person is a combination
of all things considered. Their race, their gender, sexual orientation,
mental health, physical health,
potential disability, and so on and so forth. An example of how this is true in the environmental
space is e.g. that people of color, both in North America as well
as pretty much globally, are much more effected by the immediate effects
of the climate crisis. Then rich white people are, even though historically they
have contributed far less to the situation becoming this bad due to social injustices. They also generally have a lot less power to change
things immediately. These inequalities and the
list of those is endless, are very important whenever
we talk about climate change, there are many other
examples like coal mines being built closer to poor
people's neighborhoods. Island states being flooded
by rising sea levels. Droughts affecting
people who have done barely nothing too. Inflict the climate crisis
onto themselves are garbage is being transported to Asian and African countries. And the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is
taking away indigenous land. Despite indigenous
people being one of the biggest guardians of
the remaining biodiversity, despite only being such a
small population that is left. This intersectionality also
means that the fight for human rights is very much interconnected with the
fight for a better planet. What this means for you, especially if you are a
white person like me, it is important that
vulnerable communities, countries and ethnicities
need to be heard. They need to be listened to, they need to be
supported and uplifted. This is especially true
for indigenous people. They only make up 5% of
the world's population, but they protect 80% of
the global biodiversity. And they face incredible
discrimination, which is why I wanted
to highlight them here. Specifically, activism
does not only mean to take individual action, but it also means to listen and rethink the world as
we see it right now. We also need to
realize that maybe others need to lead
the way. I e.g. as a white person from Europe, I come from a place
that has inflicted so much harm on
other people and on the environment that
the solutions for this crisis will most
likely not come from us. So we need to give the
lead to other people. If you are in a
position of privilege, however, that looks
like for you, use the privilege
for creating change, but makes sure to uplift those with a lack of
power along the way. If you are a part of
a marginalized group, makes sure to claim your space and do not be
afraid to think of new, creative and unusual ways to heal the planet and humanity. Do not the current system break you or take
away your potential. But of course, an
experience like being marginalized can
limit your activism. And about that, we're going
to talk in the next lesson.
11. Limits to your activism: After all these things
that we've just discussed, I also want to
quickly mention again that there are limits
to your activism. You might be limited by the
politics in your country, by your financial
situation, by your health. However, we don't need
experts in all fields. As I said, 100 times
every small act counts. We do not need a few people doing environmental
action perfectly. We need countless people
doing it imperfectly. However, that looks
like for you. However, please do not
take this as an excuse to do nothing or just the
bare minimum of action. Always try to thrive for better and for improvement and for
doing the most that you can. It might take longer and it
might look different for you, and there might be limitations. But do not use it as an excuse.
12. Do not settle: As I just mentioned in the limitations
pride when I said do not use your limitations as
an excuse to do nothing. Also, do not settle. What I mean by that is that doing something
good in getting started with small action
is important and is valid. But it should never be. Your last step. Being an environmentalist
or even just being sustainable
means to always strive for waste
to do better and to learn to expand your
habits and knowledge. One good habit or choice
does not balance out the bad that you have already done or the bat that
you're still doing. This, again does not
mean that you need to be perfect in every
area of your life. But if you say you're a
vegan for the environment, but you fly on a vacation five times a year. It doesn't add up. If you say, Oh, I recycle, but I do buy a new
phone every year. It doesn't add up recycling, buying secondhand, being vegan, or eating more
plant-based or however, the first steps are going to look like for you, our grade. First steps, with the
emphasis on first, there always needs
to be improvement. There always needs
to be further steps. Again, of course, there are limitations depending
on who you are, where you live, and how
your life looks like. But you should always
strive to do better. What is important here is
the holistic picture and the acknowledgment that you can always do better and
strive towards it, even if you will not
accomplish everything at once. The climate emergency
affects us all, and therefore we
all need to do our best even if it
gets uncomfortable. This sentiment, by the way, also holds true for the
big players of the crisis. Because of course,
we as individuals carry far less guilt
and big companies, politicians, celebrities, the people with power
and a lot of the money. So do not settle for their promises or
their little effort. Ask for more. Do not settle.
13. Mental Health and Eco-Anxiety: As I just mentioned in the last lesson, the big companies, politicians and celebrities, have so much more
impact than us. And I wish, I wish
so much that I could tell you that someone
is coming to save us. But the reality is, it is up to us to take action. And that is scary
and overwhelming. And it can cause you to have problems with
your mental health. It can cause something
called climate anxiety or eco anxiety. I know this very well. I struggled with this
on a daily basis. And this is why a part of being an environmentalist
is also to take care of yourself and take
care of your mental health. This can look 100
different ways. This can look like tuning out. This can look like escaping into a good book
or a good movie. Or to realize that a lot of the responsibility is not on us, the consumer button, the people
making the big decisions. But ultimately the only
thing that truly helps against climate anxiety
is to take action. This is the only thing
that has helped me. And every other
person that I've ever heard talk about climate or eco anxiety or anything
else regarding mental health and the
climate, take action. It is the only way out of this. For me. Every time I actually
do something like e.g. creating this class,
I feel strength and courage and hope
instead of despair. Because action transforms fear and hopelessness into
a force for the good. Being an environmentalist
does not mean to be dead serious and
anxious every day. It simply means to see the
problem and take action. In fact, it means to believe
in hope and become a part of a global movement full of diverse and wonderful fighters dedicated to a better world. And yes, it is totally valid to tune out sometimes and
distract yourself. We have all been there as
long as you do not run away completely because ignorance has never solved any problems, it is totally fine to
tune out sometimes. Some other tips for
dealing with climate or eco anxiety include
connecting with other people, especially within the
environmental space. This has given me so much hope and
motivation to do better. And I feel so much less
alone in this fight. The climate movement is much better than
you would expect. You are not alone. Celebrate the good, good news, good personal things, healing, the beauty of the big
and small things. Cultivate gratitude and
allow yourself to feel joy. And finally, connect
with nature. Go for a walk, go for a hike, whatever you need to
do to reconnect with nature and with your
own nature as well. Do it. This might be the
one magic piece of advice because at least for me, it has always brought
me back to joy and to have the motivation to keep on going even when
things are hard. Because it reminds you that this beauty out the hair is
what we're fighting for. To keep this magical world
as wonderful as it is. And to fight for it, and to fight to keep it and
to fight to let it grow.
14. Final Thoughts: Thank you so much for
taking this class. I hope you learned something
and I'm gonna give you a little summary of
all the things we have discussed today in this class, you have learned, first of all, that environmentalism
is important in all its unique
forums and stages. You have also learned that everyday environmentalism
means to question everything, to constantly educate
yourself, to take action, support those who are on the forefront and to take
the issue seriously. You also learned that we need to change the way we consume from food too close to
tack and everything else. We have also discussed the
importance of treating nature with deep respect and the necessity
of protecting it. We have also learned that all
our actions are political, even when we don't act at all. And that you can always go
a step further and do more, especially when it comes
to intersectionality. We have also established
that we should not settle, not in our own actions, nor in our expectations
from those in power. In the last few lessons, we have also discussed that limitations to your
climate activism, as well as climate anxiety, are very real, but should never be used as an excuse
to do nothing. Lastly, and maybe
here on Skillshare. Most importantly, your
creativity can be your superpower in the fight against the climate emergency. Use it wisely. If you have any questions about the contents of this class
or any of the lessons, or if you're simply
looking for an exchange either with me or any
of the other students. Please use the discussions
function down below. I will see you there. Thank you again so much. I'm so excited to see and read all of your
class projects. Until then, you can
find me on my website, on YouTube, or in my books. Goodbye.
Tasmin Hansmann, Author, Storyteller, Environmentalist
