Over the past few weeks of deliberation, my group has struggled with determining the best method of action. We are planning to portray the impacts of climate change on a local level. Specifically, we will take photos of iconic Seattle sites and couple them a paragraph discussing what will happen to them or what they represent.
What makes Seattleites feel as strongly as they do about climate change? Is it that we are a coastal city, likely to sink due to global sea level rise? I thought so, but after researching the topic I realized that sea level rise projections are low here. From this research, it seems that the public does not necessarily know how climate change will affect us outside of the scientific facts. In Seattle, the impacts will not be unbearable heat and rising sea levels, but a complete systematic and cultural change.
The most challenging aspect of our project is balancing paralysis and action. Likely, displaying pictures of adored Seattle sites along with how the area will change will prompt paralysis in the viewer. This ties into Lertzman’s “Myth of Apathy”, as the increase in anxiety could make residents feel more “apathetic” regarding climate change. Not in that people do not care, but that this project will simply highlight more aspects to care about, leading to paralysis. This paralysis, however, is different than paralysis we feel when we see photos of melting ice caps thousands of miles away. On one hand, the project will increase the anxiety people feel because suddenly climate change is in our own community, rather than across the world. However, will the people’s ambition for action increase because it is their own community? For instance, in the film How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change, the viewer sees multiple examples of communities from all over the world making a difference in how the Anthropocene functions. They are not major greenhouse gas emitters, but they know that they will be affected by climate change which inspires them to do whatever little they can to make an impact. I hope that by shrinking the issue of climate change, this project will be more informative and inspiring rather than debilitating. Nonetheless, the research I have done has already given me a deeper understanding of the Anthropocene in Seattle, and what I can get involved in.
Works Referenced:
Photo: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/weather/article/Is-Seattle-s-haze-the-new-normal-11739840.php#photo-13629857
Lertzman, Renee. “The Myth of Apathy”.
Fox, Josh. “How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change”.