From plastic wrapped along the necks of wildlife on beach shores to nauseating statistics of the ocean bearing the brunt of climate change, the ocean has absorbed “heat equivalent to seven Hiroshima atomic bombs detonating each second.” The phrase “the ocean is in trouble” by Dr. Earle isn’t shocking.
Most people, when they think of climate change today, assume that the world is over and that there isn’t much anyone can do. But Dr. Sylvia Earle thinks otherwise, remaining hopeful.
“We got a fighting chance,” Dr. Earle said. “We know what to do. We have the best chance we ever had to get from where we are to be at a better place.”
Acknowledging that we all can do better today with the knowledge we have, Dr. Earle mentioned that existing during the 21st century is something to be proud of.
“You can do what it takes to live in the future,” Dr. Earle said.
However, hope is not all it takes to walk into the aspired future.
“I’ve kind of moved away from the balance of hope versus urgency and despair,” said Rosanna Xia, an environmental reporter at the Los Angeles Times. “Because for so long, it was like, too much hope dilutes us of the sense of urgency that we need to take action to. But without hope [it] leads to the sense of fatalism and inaction. That’s not attractive.”
Realizing she was no longer invested in the word hope anymore, Xia said she found a middle ground in the words of courage and responsibility.
“You have a responsibility to help people understand that we all have a duty to do something about this,” Xia said, bringing awareness that people must feel ownership and a connection to these issues and that “no one is spared on this planet.”
To Xia, it requires courage to take responsibility and act on this feeling of duty. Even with said duty on her own plate as a journalist, Xia said there are moments of struggle in her hope, but it does not waver her sense of duty.
“I have constantly had to ground myself, needing to be brave,” she said during the discussion, inspiring a fellow LA Times writer Hayley Smith.
An environmental reporter, Smith refers to Xia and Earle as two women who are their own “kinds of legends,” mentioning Rosanna Xia as an inspiration and Dr. Earle as an icon to her.
“I really appreciated the seriousness with which they treated the topics of climate change and sea level rise, but also what Rosanna said about responsibility and courage and a little bit of hope, because sometimes it’s easy to lose those things,” Smith said.
With Dr. Earle being at USC, Smith sees how seriously the university is taking the climate crisis.
“Investing in bringing some of the top talent and the brightest minds working in this sphere to USC, to Annenberg, should speak to all the students about how much the university wants to invest in this really important topic,” Smith said.
Also inspired by Xia and Earle was USC Junior and Annenberg student Mia Thompson, who was among the crowd during the discussion. Thompson asked the final question about what to do to get started in the field of environmental journalism.
Inspired by both who she called “trailblazers,” Thompson expressed excitement in getting to have office hours with Dr. Earle, now that she became the inaugural Climate Communicator.
“I would love to pick her brain about her experience and the advice she could give me,” Thompson said.
Allison Agsten, USC’s inaugural director for Climate Journalism and Communication, said that anytime she tells anybody in the science world that Dr. Earle is coming to USC, people’s jaws drop. Agsten, along with many others on campus, said they are amazed and honored to have Dr. Earle as USC’s inaugural Climate Communicator in Residence.
Though climate change is an emotional rollercoaster of ups and downs as the news comes, Dr. Earle had a simple answer to the question of how she is remaining hopeful.
“But what is my reason for hope?” Dr. Earle said. “I think I’m looking at it. You are here. You have power, and you’re dedicated one way or another to communicating the state of the world. That is really the best cause for hope.”