The Ripple Effect
by Sara Dorsey of the Williams College Climate Justice Fast Team
My friends didn’t know about my decision until the day of the fast, so when I told them I wasn’t eating this past Thursday, they seemed a little shocked. They enjoy food just as much as I do (which is to say, a lot). Later in the day, one of them asked me why I was participating in the fast.
A while ago I would have been doubtful as to the effectiveness of fasting for climate justice. What in the world can refusing food do for the climate when there is so much food going to waste in our country every day? How does me being hungry change the fact that our culture seems totally unaware of its own overconsumption and unnecessary waste?
But what else could I do? I’ve done what I can to change my own habits; but I can’t make anyone else change theirs – that would be immoral – and the biggest changes seem impossible without others. So I went hungry for a day as a participant in Williams College rolling fast for climate justice as part of the larger movement, Climate Justice Fast!, and was pleasantly surprised.
My friends didn’t know about my decision until the day of the fast, so when I told them I wasn’t eating this past Thursday, they seemed a little shocked. They enjoy food just as much as I do (which is to say, a lot). Later in the day, one of them asked me why I was participating in the fast. I answered her, probably rather inarticulately, that fasting is a way of reminding people how serious climate change is and that, even though we aren’t seeing its most harmful effects here, it is a huge injustice to those living in developing countries and other vulnerable areas. Fasting is a way of demonstrating dedication to changing our own habits and showing our leaders that we acknowledge that sacrifices need to be made to solve the problem that we’ve created.
The past few days I’ve noticed that the lights in our common room have been off much more frequently when no one is around. My suitemates have been reusing the disposable cups that they’d taken from the dining hall. Today we walked to the farmers market in the field house and bought local vegetables and fruit instead of making our biweekly trip to the grocery store.
There are many reasons to fast for climate justice; if anyone asks me again, I’d probably give them the same answer I gave my friend (hopefully more articulately) but I have a better reason now – the ripple effect.
