Name: Elias Markee-Ratner
Social Justice Group: Climate Change: Rising Sea Levels / Plastic Pollution
Date of Fieldwork: January 26, 2024
Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Keanu Arpels-Josiah
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?:
On Friday, my group (along with the climate change group) got the opportunity to speak to Keanu, a high schooler at LREI who is heavily involved in climate activism. After meeting him in the lobby at the high school, we decided to do the interview in the library, where we took notes and recorded the conversation.
Keanu is involved with numerous organizations fighting climate change and has spoken at several events. In addition, he helped organize a major climate protest in New York City and visited the latest United Nations Climate Conference. During our conversation, he mentioned the extreme inaction of nations and corporations and how they’re employing any means necessary to avoid change. Given just how dire this issue is, it was really horrifying to hear how greedy humans can be.
Talking to Keanu was amazing and extremely informational. I was able to learn a lot about the close connections between the marine pollution crisis and the climate crisis (especially around plastic manufacturing because plastic is made from fossil fuels). It’s clear that both are pressing issues and need to be addressed, and he helped convey the urgency of the situation in a way I hadn’t heard before. In addition, he shared useful tips on how to get involved in activism and his own story, which were interesting and insightful.
One of the most important things I learned from our conversation was about which types of change are actually making the most difference and the importance of addressing issues at their root causes. For instance, while recycling can make a difference in plastic pollution, it can’t fully solve the problem. This plastic will still end up in the ocean eventually and new plastic is still being produced constantly. So, the root cause that needs addressing is the issue of plastic production. This helped me realize that even though the actions we as individual people are taking are important, the responsibility and the focus of our efforts should be on the companies that are creating the issues (especially because they are always trying to place the blame on the consumers. For example, BP, a major oil company, created the first carbon footprint calculator).
All in all, our interview was informational, insightful, and an amazing opportunity. I really felt like I now understand so much more about the climate crisis and climate activism after talking to Keanu.
