[CULTURE] Know Your Enemy (aka.climate change)

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. - Sun Tzu, Chinese military strategist

There are two things I am passionate about to this day, those I had never chosen to adopt. I grew into them. I grew up under my father, who tried his best to avoid purchasing products from Japanese corporations that stood by the unapologetic stance against my motherland, in the territorial debates, sexual embarrassments, and cultural abuse done to Korean people during the colonization. I grew up seeing my mother always carefully sorting trash into recyclables, compost, and regular trash. In my household, electronic devices and furniture easily last 15 years. Without even knowing the reasons to the practices of me and my parents, I adopted the acts of refusing, recycling, reusing.

And then of course, there came a time when I stood in front of a stationary store, debating whether to get a Hello Kitty mechanical pencil or not, with the little stipend I earned for helping with household chores. Hello Kitty was the product of Sanrio, a Japanese company, which I knew to avoid especially when I had several other options at the store. I do not remember whether I bought the pink Hello Kitty pencil that day, but I do remember having Hello Kitty merchandises around in my childhood. The similar debates reoccurred and concluded without knowing the right answer to them. Slowly but surely, I approached historical books and purposely took classes in high school and college on the history of Japan, modern colonization, and current issues in East Asian politics. I've learned to not hate individual Japanese I could make friends with. I had not relinquish my love for Hello Kitty until this day. However, I do hold on to my historical hatred when it comes to issues of comfort women or territorial debates, except with more knowledge and therefore, legitimacy.

I confronted a similar struggle with my environmentalist spirit. My family was living in Portland, Oregon, a well-known area for its wet season in winter, when I was in eighth grade. And one day in April, I witnessed the first hail ever in my life. It was the most bizarre weather condition and the only answer to what had caused it was climate change. To my confident environmentalist argument, a classmate of mine fought against it and asked, "if it's the global warming that's causing this, why is it hailing and cold in April? Shouldn't we be sweating by now?" Obviously, the kid had no idea what 'global warming' even meant, but neither did I. I regret to this day, not being able to stand up for myself and confidently explain the scientific logic of climate change and how 'global warming' doesn't mean the world is going to have Southern Californian weather all the time.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." I no long like to think Japan as an enemy. There have been struggles and there still are, but tensions have eased and I am not afraid to explain both sides' arguments when any controversial topics come up on dinner tables. Nevertheless, climate change is our enemy, the enemy we've been fighting against and not enough. Knowing the presence of this enemy will not prepare us on this on-going battle against climate change and the damages it brings on earth.

That was an overly written introduction to say exactly this. Learn about climate change and its effect on various angles. Stay updated. Do care more. Here are some books and films you can have fun spending time with and educate yourself about the environment we are currently - and in the likely future - living in.

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[Films & Documentaries]

1. Before the Flood (2016) Produced / Directed by Fisher Stevens and Leonardo DiCaprio available on Youtube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play

Leonardo DiCaprio seems to identify himself more so as an environmental activist than an actor today. In his admirable Oscar winning speech, he dedicated most of his time emphasizing that "climate change is real, it is happening right now." Well, he didn't stop there. He traveled around the world to witness the proofs of climate change and had explored solutions to the problem from renewable energy to policy changes, featuring former president Barack Obama. DiCaprio's undoubtedly passionate tone about climate change and his first-hand witnesses of melting ice in Greenland show how real and terrible everything is. It is unlike living in big cities with a plenty of running water and fast driving yellow cabs.

2. An Inconvenient Truth (2006) Produced / Written by Davis Guggenheim and Al Gore available on Youtube, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play, Hulu

Honestly, this is a less-exciting version of "Before the Flood". However, the former Vice President Al Gore delves deep into the crisis and allow the audience to face the "inconvenient truth" of global warming. The critics back in 2006 argued that the film left the audience stunned by failing to provide a concrete answer to "what can WE do?" So next...

3. An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (2017) Produced / Written by Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk, and Al Gore available on Youtube, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play, Hulu

After 11 years, Al Gore released a sequel to provide more answers. And in the meantime, a lot had changed. The issue of global warming expanded to the issue of climate change - meaning that our territorial landscape is changing. Paris Agreement to prevent the effects of climate change was signed by 175 parties in 2016. This sequel draws to the fact that the global average sea levels had rise 33.54 mm in 2006 and in 2016, they had risen 74.48 mm.

My criticism to Al Gore's newest documentary, which I had watched at one of the first screenings in the nation, is that Al Gore sounds too optimistic. Given the research done and proofs gathered on climate change, the sequel claims that the future is bright solely because we know we can solve it. I argue against this because knowing that we can do something does not always allow us to execute the solutions.

4. Cowspiracy: The Sustainable Secret (2014) Produced by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn available on Netflix

Beware before watching! You might not be able to consume meat forever. But for a good reason! You've learned to recycle, get into the habit of using reusables, and converse energy and water. In fact, however, the leading cause of water consumption, deforestation, pollution, and therefore climate change, is animal agriculture. Animal agriculture - meaning raising cows, transporting them, and butchering them - is primarily responsible for a massive amount of greenhouse gases than anything else.

I was raised in a meat-eating family and never have thought to turn completely vegetarian, until I became a pescatarian for 2 years. This truly eye-opening and shocking documentary made me realize that eating meat is no longer a choice. In order to save ourselves from this devastatingly worsening damages to the environment, we must not sacrifice raising and killing cows for filling our appetites. Even if you do not quit eating meat entirely, you will never feel the same about your food consumption after watching this.

5. Downsizing (2017) Directed by Alexander Payne available on Youtube, Amazon Prime, Google Play, Hulu

The only fictional film on this list! The science-fiction movie introduces a new surgical procedure to permanently "downsize" human bodies to live in environmentally friendly micro-communities and thereby have less damaging effect on the environment. Matt Damon decides to go through the procedure and chooses to live in a luxurious mini-town and the story begins involving so many unexpected. The movie is ambitious covering the issues of environmental challenge, racial discrimination, and drawing parallel world to the lives of refugees in the real world.

As much as I was intrigued with the movie since its release, the criticisms were harsh and the movie was nominated only to supporting actress at the Golden Globes. I do agree that Alex Payne's 10 years of effort to finally show off his ambitious film had gone to far, by covering too many things, leaving the audience feeling confused at the end of the film, "so what is this movie about?" Still, with the medical world's argument that shrinking human bodies is perfectly viable in the near future, this is a good watch to foresee what we CAN DO about our environmental issues.

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[Books]

1. Silent Spring (1962) by Rachel Carson

This is a bible for the environmentalists. Rachel Carson, a rare female marine biologist in the 20th century, had brought up the detrimental effects of the use of pesticides. Despite the harsh attacks from corporations, widely using synthetic pesticides, which were invented and developed through military funding after World War 2, she did not relinquish even during the televised interview. Her work eventually leads to a nationwide ban on DDT pesticides for agriculture uses, probably the biggest environmental movement ever.

2. No Impact Man (2009) by Colin Beavan

Also produced into a documentary. Colin Beavan committed one whole year to make "zero impact" on the environment. That means no electricity, fossil fuels, non-local food, or any kind of new purchase. Why did he decide to do that and also drag his wife and daughter to join? In his words, "the climate change crisis had begun. I realized I could not longer ignore the world's problems. No Impact Man is really the story of how I made transformative adjustments in my life and career in order to address myself to the things I cared about and to live in line with my values."

To the better surprise, Colin and his family live in New York City - the city of consumerism and waste! Nobody will ever be able to make "zero impact". However, this really is a good guideline to a pursuit of eco-friendly lifestyle. Maybe light up some vegan candles tonight instead of turning on your night lamp?

3. New York 2041 (2017) by Kim Stanley Robinson

We've seen hurricane Florence, hurricane Katrina and tsunamis hitting countries in Southeast Asia. What if the city that is so great that it was named twice gets drowned in water? Kim Stanley Robinson built the story of two Manhattan boys on an inflatable boat on the river next to the drown city of New York. This is a very realistic future with the rate at which sea levels are rising today.

In the midst of this environmental disaster, the story unfolds with not-at-all-subtle challenges met with capitalism, inadequate preventative measures to such disasters, and politics.In fact, therefore, I strongly recommend this book to today's policy makers, including the president. Are we ready to face this or potentially worse?

4. A Hole in the Wind: A Climate Scientist's Bicycle Journey Across the United States (2017) by David Goodrich

Guilty of including this to this list simply because I have not read it. But it's on my list and I'll peruse through it soon!

David Goodrich, a successful climate scientist, bikes across the country from Delaware to Oregon, talking to people he met on the road. He had started off his journey with a mission to enlighten and educate people about climate change and its degree of importance. However, the book turns out to be a record of heartfelt experiences and relationships he confronts.