On Friday morning, I awoke to the smell of barbecue. It wafted in through my window. The time 8:30 a.m. is usually too early for a barbecue, but the wild flames of California wait for no one. One would think that if the destruction of climate change began creeping through our windows, blanketing our skies and assaulting our lungs, we would react with action. One would be wrong. I have neither seen nor heard of any significant movement on our campus to address the problems causing the incineration of California. The wildfire, which as of Nov. 14 has a death toll of 48, has officially become the deadliest in this state’s history.
We, the Stanford community and humanity in general, have a bad case of “bad faith” when it comes to climate change and the imminent dangers it poses—myself included. “Bad faith” is Jean-Paul Sartre’s term for the self-denial of freedom. It is acting as though we have no choice. In our case right now, it is resigning to the wildfires as though they are inevitable, natural and unpreventable. As a university positioned at the frontier of science and technology, we know more than most about the exceptional conditions that have caused the monstrous fires. And so, as I study up on Jean-Paul Sartre for my ESF paper due very soon, I figure I can apply his legendary theories to the greatest conundrum facing us, our lungs and our formerly clear blue skies.
Existential lesson number one: “What if everyone did what I am doing?” According to Sartre, this is the essential question we must ask ourselves when making choices. If everyone consumed at the rate Americans consume now, we would need five Earths to sustain the population. Next time you use a plastic water bottle instead of reusable one, eat beef instead of a plant-based entree, or Uber instead of taking public transportation or your bike, ask yourself: what if everyone made the choice I am making? Everyone cannot feasibly make the choices Americans currently make; we do not have five Earths to exploit.
Existential lesson number two: live life in existential despair. Existential despair is the inability to place hope in fellow humans. We cannot rely on others; we can only control our actions. While seemingly bleak and quite stressful, this gives us the responsibility and agency to make choices based upon the world in which we wish to live. I cannot rely on others to solve the climate problems lighting this state on fire; it is my responsibility. This blanket of smoke smothering this campus is a warning sign. This problem is mine, and yours, to solve. The stakes are high. Our fragile habitat is turning to ash. Motivated by despair, let us take ownership and act with agency.
Existential lesson number three: when you decide for yourself, you decide for all of humanity. My choices represent what I believe is moral and good for all of humanity. I cannot preach climate consciousness and a green lifestyle without acting consciously and greenly. Sartre tells us that all we are is the sum of our actions; if I wish to be someone who betters the world, I must act accordingly.
The consequences of climate change are here, at Stanford, in our sky, lungs and nostrils. I pledge to snap out of “bad faith.” I pledge to choose for humanity and for our planet. I pledge to become an existentialist for the environment, and I invite you to do the same.
Contact Grace Scullion at gscull ‘at’ stanford.edu.