After Catherine Flowers finished talking about her spectacular journey from Alabama to Durham, Amanda talked about how the majority of the environmental stories that we read make us feel despair rather than hope. She mentioned that people like Catherine Flowers, who strive for something bigger than themselves and fight for the little people, give us promise that these problems can be solved. Sometimes, it’s hard to see that, given that the people who have the power to make the most immediate change (the government) are the ones making our problems worse.
Flowers’ introductory article mentions that law enforcement evicted/arrested 37 different families solely because they could not afford proper septic systems – this added on to their already terrible situation, wherein raw sewage leaked into their yards and caused disease. These are the stories that we talk about when we say that so many environmental stories are written in the tone of despair. These kinds of narratives seem to take hope away, rather than give it – the very people that we expect to fix the sewage problem seem to exacerbate it instead. Does that not seem backwards?
Fortunately, we have people like Flowers to turn the ship around, and return control back to the people. When she tells her narrative, I feel inspired to create my own environmental narrative that’s focused on actionables and deliverables that can rectify our situation. This is exactly what we are doing by trying to reduce plastic use in West Union. Hopefully, we can show people that they have the power to reduce worldwide plastic use – so that they can stop hearing such negative stories about plastic in the environment. Hopefully, you all will join us in April Three Plastic Free, so that we can all make an impact and turn the narrative around!