The Anti-Heroes

by Jen Lancaster

Landfills are overflowing with perfectly serviceable items because Madison Avenue convinces us that if we’re not consuming, we’re losing.

My environmental science majors understand the devastation of global temperature increasing even another degree; it’s why they’re here and passionate about conservation.

Generation X has been shrugging and saying, “Meh, what good will it do?” forever, but we Millennials are starting to feel that way too, now that so many of us have mortgages or children or back pain. But I see parts of that fight in Gen Z.

How does any person with a soul decide, Fuck the rain forest; what really matters is this quarter’s earnings report?

“If this feels like life or death, that’s because it is. There’s an analogy about what happens when you microwave a bag of popcorn. During that first minute? You don’t see anything happening, even though it is. The heat has gotten inside the kernel, and the steam is roiling beneath the surface, creating a chemical change. But you don’t see, hear, or smell it, so it doesn’t seem real. That’s why society at large has ignored climate change for so long—it wasn’t immediately evident. Right now, this change doesn’t seem real to so many of you, because if it did, you would preserve every resource you encounter. You get a beautiful day here in February and you’re all celebrating like it’s a gift or an anomaly rather than the direct result of greenhouse gases. You laugh when I talk about the possibility of a coastline in Las Vegas. It isn’t funny. Every uninformed decision you make pushes us closer to the brink, every piece of fast fashion you buy, every aluminum can you toss in the trash, because you think to yourself, It’s one tiny thing, what’s the difference? The difference is we are on the second minute of the crisis right now, okay? Those kernels are about to blow, and once they do, we cannot go back. The corn can never go back into the hull. This is where end-stage capitalism has gotten us.”

“It can get hotter and it will get hotter if we don’t make changes. All those wildfires that we’re seeing? Those aren’t accidents. They are a by-product of how we live. This is what happens. We are seeing the end result of not caring enough to protect this planet. All those animals we loved seeing at the zoo when we were kids? We’re going to lose them as the warming sea melts the glaciers from underneath. We’ve already lost five hundred species in the past hundred years. Tasmanian tigers? Gone. Japanese sea lions? Gone. West African black rhinos? Gone. In a hundred years from now, we’re not going to see krill or blue whales or ringed seals, because their habitats are being destroyed. Game over.”

“We’re going to see more drought. Do you understand me? Our storms will be more severe. Those cheesy blockbuster environmental disaster movies are going to be documentaries in a hundred years. Do you hate inequity? Well, buckle up, buttercups, because it’s only going to get worse. The poor are going to get poorer and they’re going to be displaced. The wealthy—the ones who are making money off all the chaos—they’re going to get wealthier.”

“Here’s what I don’t get: Why aren’t all of you rioting in the streets, yelling, ‘Not on my watch!’? You are our last, best hope! Our future depends on you! Yet so many of you are blithely wading into a shitstorm wearing your Shein sundresses, playing your Animal Crossing, and making your TikToks, and you have no concept of what’s to come. I am sick to death of people not taking action. Sick. To. Death. I hope you come out of here today with your eyes open. Every cause you support is important, but none of them will matter if we don’t have a habitable planet anymore. This is it—this should be your apex priority. I hope you spend the rest of the day furious with me for bursting your little bubble. And I hope that spurs you to do something. Because you are capable and the only thing stopping you is you.”

There has to be a word for something that’s so magical and also so scary.” “Yes, it’s called parenthood,” Annika says.

But you know what resource is, unfortunately, renewable? Fear. Fear is self-perpetuating, and it’s the biggest problem we face as a society. Fear is why we hide behind our cameras instead of acting when we see something bad going on. Fear is why so many are sheep instead of sheepdogs. The wolves thrive on fear. They cultivate it. Fear is why we don’t know our neighbors. Fear is what closes us off from outsiders. Fear keeps us stuck, keeps us crouched behind the couch in the dark. Fear keeps us isolated and alone. And the pandemic? That took our collective fear to an entirely new level.”