Saving the World is Group Work

I’m starting to think there are a lot of us trying to save the planet all by ourselves. Meticulously washing out the recycling and putting it in the correct bin. Eating less meat and dairy. Driving less.

Good for us. I love those sunny mornings when I arrive at work glowing after my e-bike commute and feel like a very good example. Perhaps everyone else has noticed my lack of driving and is now shopping for a new bike so they can join me in green commuting.

Of course, there are also bike commutes when the rain feels like it’s cutting into the skin on my face, and a layer of frost forms on my legs, and I follow a school bus I can’t quite pass, and I arrive cold, wet, and pissed off. Why am I the only one doing this? Doesn’t anyone else care about the climate?

This accusatory, judgy, not-altogether-justified resentment makes me feel like I’m in high school again being assigned group work.

When my students complain about group work today, I tell them that life is a group project, which, you know, I believe. But the truth is, as a student, I was terrible at group work. I was too grade-focused. Too resentful of others not doing what I thought they should be doing. And way too disorganized to figure out how to be a part of a group with multiple visions, varying commitment levels, and scatter-shot schedules. Best case scenario—the group just lets me do the whole thing myself.

I wish I had learned earlier to be better at the skills that group projects require: coordination, compromise, inviting others in. Listening to other ideas. Not trying to be in charge. Not trying to prove that you’re better than or smarter than the rest of your group. Follow through. Counting on each other. The belief that together we can make something better than any of us could separately.

There’s one group project that I remember being different. It was my senior year in high school, so maybe I was less focused on grades or just a bit more mature and ready for collaboration. I remember surprisingly little about the actual work of the project. It was for English class, and it had something to do with For Whom the Bell Tolls, which is a book I mostly read. I remember that my teacher said Hemingway’s food scenes were more sensual than his sex scenes, thereby giving me the completely wrong idea about paella. I’m sure the grade we got was fine, because I would have remembered if it wasn’t.

You know what I do remember though? Joy. Four of us laughing till we fell down. Silliness. Fun. Creativity. Spit-balling. “OMG and then what if we….” I remember music we knew all the words to, and music we made up dirty words to. (Unrelated, I think, to the project.) I remember that we came up with a project that was different, sillier, bigger, and more creative than any one of us could have thought up alone. We were better together.

If we could have that much fun as kids on a project about a book with steamy seafood scenes, what would happen if we stopped trying to save the world by ourselves and started treating saving the planet as group work? The fun, connecting, energizing kind of group work.

I’m ready to let go of resenting others for not acting as “green” as I think they should and to start making environmental justice the kind of group project that fills us with creative energy, joy, connection, and community. I’m ready to start practicing more of those group-work skills: compromise, inviting others in, listening, counting on each other. Because we’re better together. And trying to save the planet all by ourselves is really super demoralizing.

Climate Pessimist Challenge: Overcome climate despair and find hope by becoming a part of something bigger than you.

Join a climate activist group. Or a neighborhood association, or a faith-based organization, or the board of a non-profit you love. Anything, really, and watch your impact and your community grow.

• Work with your new organization to calculate the organization’s carbon impact. How can the organization reduce its carbon footprint? Consider—is this a larger carbon impact than if you did this exercise as a household or individual?
• Organizations can have louder voices and more political influence than individuals. Can you lobby—on behalf of yourself and your organization—for more climate-friendly policies in your community, state, or nation?
• Take time to get to know others in your new organization. Have you met someone who seems friendly? Invite them out for a cup of coffee. Get to know each other. Connect as people. Friends make group work fun!

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