Find joy in the fight for climate change
This is the opinion of Marta Ditzler, CSB senior.
On Monday this week, Winona LaDuke, the world-renowned environmental activist who calls the White Earth Reservation her home, was on campus. She has received countless awards in her life and for decades has worked on environmental issues and solutions in Minnesota and all over the world.
As an environmental studies major, this was the event I have been looking forward to all semester. I remember going to her talk my first year at CSB+SJU and being so excited about environmental activism. Specifically, she talked about the fight against the Line 3 pipeline—the pipeline that currently runs through northern Minnesota. This time, her talk had more hope for the future.
LaDuke continued to call out other systems and problems that are often discussed as too complex to solve with green and sustainable options. For those of you who did not attend the talk, one of my most important takeaways was how we think about solutions. LaDuke pointed to energy and how we will likely not meet the current demand if we transition to renewables.
She continues by saying that Enbridge, the oil company that owns Line 3, is the biggest consumer in Minnesota energy. Her point is that we do not need to meet current energy demand because we would get rid of the biggest consumer helps reshape the climate crisis argument. LaDuke throughout the talk points to solutions and how we can continue to work on the climate crisis.
Tuesday morning, I was able to attend a class where LaDuke was speaking on activism. She made crucial points about having fun while doing the work you care about and doing the right thing. If you can simply do the best right thing, you are already working on solutions. Once you start, you can grow the movement and find your partners who will help you build the change you seek.
LaDuke’s most impactful remark was that you need to have more fun than who you are fighting against. She talked about how people want to hang out and work on issues that the other cool kids are working on. Her advice was that we should find the things that bring us joy and use them as ways to influence the change we want to see. LaDuke personally enjoys activism through art and music. Recently, she would host dances outside the Enbridge office, previously located in the Carnegie Library in Park Rapids, Minn. Now, the library has been bought, and she plans to turn it into a museum.
Having more fun that your opponent may be the best advice I have ever received for how to work on social issues and how to avoid burn out. I agree that having fun is the best way to work on social movements. Working on climate change issues can at times feel like trying to fight an inevitable crisis, but working on it and your joy at the same time is the only way forward.
After some reflection of how I got here, all the cool kids on campus my first year were working social justice. While I have always cared about social justice issues, wanting to be part of the fun community is what pulled me in when I got to college. I will always be thankful anytime I get to see Winona LaDuke speak, but I do not think I will ever have more impactful advice than to have the most fun you can while working on important issues.