| Coffee went along great for while. My friend Federica is very cool and plus she is Italian so her coffee & biscotti are really good -- basically like all the rest of her cooking. We caught up about Fede's impressive photography work for a little: a Habitat for Humanity project, shooting a recent fundraiser for the homeless in SF, her on-going series documenting the work of family farms. You gotta admit, this lady is all over it as far as caring about some big social issues. When she turned the talk to what I've been up to, I remember it going something like this -- |  |
| "What have you been up to?" "Well, I finally made some progress on the blog I told you I wanted to do about climate change..." "Oh, cool. Can I see?" "Sure." I pull up my phone and start showing her the infographic -- the part with the bubbles explaining how fast our odds of keeping warming under 2C are dropping. "So what do you want people to know?" "That we can't use coal, oil or gas anymore." "You mean like driving and flying and everything? Thats never gonna happen." And then I SNAPPED. Whatever flew out of my mouth next was not thought out at all or calmly delivered: "Well, if you don't care about your kid's future & aren't willing to fight for it, I can't make you. But, I'm not giving up on trying to help Kush. And if you won't do anything about this, you should at least stop worrying about things like making sure Isabella has the best music teacher & worrying if she's getting the perfect Michael Pollan-approved diet." Honestly, I'm not even 100% sure what I said, but I know it wasn't good. I know that I lost it. Fede, however, did not. She was awesome. Maybe its the Italian thing but she was totally comfortable with my big ol' outburst. She was totally encouraging me: "Yea, thats what you should tell people" and "You should have a party and get people together and tell all of them that. I'll help you. I'll say it for you if you want. We can do it at my place." Friends are awesome for plenty of reasons, not just free coffee & pep talks. Talking to my friends about climate change has also be a huge eye-opener for me. I have found out a lot through casual conversations -- about how other people see our carbon problem, if they see it at all. Every conversation gives me new ideas about how I can communicate better. Obviously I need all the help I can get. Thanks, Fede :) |
