Episode 26: With Karsten (Life on Earth, Environmental Justice, Clean Energy and Sustaining Activism)
Opening
Neil Cowley “Don’t Walk Alone”
0:06
Piano
Karsten took lessons when he was 4. His dad loved classical music and played violin and recorder. When he was 10, he started actually enjoying piano, but by the time he was 12, he wanted to quit. His parents promised him a keyboard when he turned 16 if he continued (four years off!)
Karsten started improvising in high school, with a jazz band. That helped him learn to find pleasure in the piano again.
“Piano is something I do entirely for myself these days. For me there’s nothing better than an hour at the piano at the end of a long day. Only every couple of weeks these days. It works. It’s a consistent way to make myself feel better and reorder my neurons.”
0:14
Children
We’re all competing for attention. Especially tree year-olds!
Karsten’s boys are 4 and 2. As a dad, Karsten is realizing how important it is to have patience and realizing how easily he can become irritated in certain situations. I can definitely relate.
0:18
Family — Moving from DC Suburbs to the Central Valley
Karsten’s dad was from Germany, and his mom was from the rural Central Valley, farmland in California. Karsten’s dad was a foreign-exchange student who came to California and met his mom. Karsten was born in the suburbs of DC and the family moved back to CA to be near her family.
Karsten always had the sense that his family was different. Master’s degrees. Politically liberal. After his first seven years in the wealthy and educated DC suburbs, there was a bit of culture shock initially when they moved to Porterville.
0:29
Identity and Conformity
Boy Scouts (straight, white, males). Noticing homophobia and sexism. Karsten’s social group: knew they were headed to college
0:34
Identity: Individualism and Adolescence
Forming identity and defining yourself in relation to the males around you. Figuring out who you DON’T want to be.
0:38
Activism
Karsten began to define himself as an activist when he arrived at college. He saw the power of putting moral commitments into action and discovering the power of righteous action and belief.
0:41
Where You Live
We discuss the ways in which the country’s geography defines culture and how cultural and political identity is related to where you live.
0:44
Maps and the Visualizing the Earth
Karsten was a Geography major in college. Karsten chose the strand that focused on “Social Geography” part sociology, part environmental science, part demography.
0:49
Karsten’s Work: Energy
Karsten is a program manager at an electric and gas company serving the northeast.
Reducing Carbon Emissions — Biden’s Statement on 2030
California, Massachusetts and Texas are all deregulated electricity markets. Where Texas went wrong — -they went further with deregulation and didn’t take weather-proofing precautions and other areas.
Q. How do we talk about the environment with urgency without overwhelming the common person who feels like the problem is impossible and the climate crisis and the impending issues we face are inevitable?
Karsten appreciates the way the Biden administration is framing the argument as a genuine crisis that we can deal with in terms of jobs, infrastructure and equity.
Urgency and Commitment
Karsten, on the climate crisis: “It requires us to realize that things are not on track until they are indeed on track.”
1:06
Sustaining Justice Movements: Optimism Plus Realism Plus Rejuvenation
Jonah: When you’re talking about the optimism required to go forward, it makes me think about all justice movements. Whether its climate or racial justice, small victories matter, but we can never relax. We have to embrace and celebrate those small victories…and yet, to think we’ve accomplished anything is foolish. You have to sustain yourself and each other and you have to connect to others.
I was teaching an article that explained the results of the Chauvin trial the other night. We read the article and I was trying to get them to understand that this was not exactly a victory, but it was a necessary result and it shows some measure of justice and police accountability. That relief is necessary and that celebration of justice is necessary. And yet…police reform has never been more urgent. This is a tiny victory in a sea of problems.
The same is true of climate. Whether it’s Standing Rock and protesting a pipeline, or whether it’s about our 2030 emissions goals, we have to focus as much on 2022 as 2030.”
Karsten: “I became a Geography major instead of an Environmental Science major because, to me, the Environmental Science picture always kept the people out, or weren’t focused enough on social solutions. Whereas where we are pointed now, we’re more focused on creating durable policy frameworks and durable energy systems that can be sustained over time to protect the natural world and the future of our own livability.
Parenting
Karsten loves searching for tadpoles in the meadow with his young boys. They go on adventures!
Having a four year-old means that patience tests abound. Being inside so often over the last year has added layers of frustration and Karsten sometimes recognizes his own lack of patience at times when he sees his little boy get frustrated.
Having a second child: everything is more familiar. Watching them and the bond that they’ve formed is miraculous. Potty training is easier. Sometimes, Karsten has to remind himself to spend more time with his younger son.
1:16
Appreciations
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Organizations to Support Justice
Donate to the Indigenous Environmental Network www.ienearth.org
Donate to the Sunrise Movement www.sunrisemovement.org
Donate to Fair Fight www.fairfight.com
Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative https://eji.org