“I’m a leo. I gotta have an answer for everything.”
LIVE PORTRAITS AT THE SEEDING JUSTICE FUNDRAISER / LEFTBANK ANNEX / PORTLAND, OREGON
When I sat down with Sarah at the Seeding Justice fundraiser, I learned she was a climate activist. “What do you think is the best way to engage people and change their minds?” I asked. Without hesitation, she responded “Art.”
She told me about Making Earth Cool, a group of local creatives who use art for activism. Quoting their website, “Making Earth Cool is a collective that creates content and events using science, comedy and creativity to educate and inspire people to be better stewards if our only home, Earth.” I went to their website where I watched an educational video with people dressed as bees and flowers, imploring viewers to let native plants and wildflowers grow in their garden in order to create more welcoming environments for bees. It was in fact very cool.
This conversation with Sarah fit perfectly within a larger contemplation about activism and psychology. How do people change their minds or decide to act on what they already believe? Are we inspired to action by facts and statistics, by seeing the horrors? You would think so. Awareness precedes action, but then, why do we often stop at awareness? Are we too set in our ways, too busy, too distracted, or just hopeless? A little bit of everything?
Fred Rogers famously said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” That’s what inspires me. Show me a path forward, show me people who are passionately engaging in building a better world. I want to be a part of that. We can do so much more together than alone, and we can spur each other on. Our individual impact might feel small, but to see the collective impact of a whole community with a shared vision—that’s what gives me hope.
Looking around the room at hundreds of fundraiser attendees making change across Portland and beyond, having conversations about their work at their dinner tables and raising their hands in the air to donate their money, I was inspired. They represented so many ways to advocate for our brothers and sisters, for human rights and community care, for our planet. Here, a spectrum of awareness was being channeled into powerful waves of action. There are so many different ways to show up and be a part of good things. There are so many people already doing the work in very strategic and organized ways. If we’re feeling discouraged or we don’t know where to start making a positive change, it’s important to remember that we don’t have to come up with our own brilliant ideas of how to change the world. We can look for the helpers and join the movement.