LOCALadk Magazine
Issue link: https://localadkmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1508038
LOCALadk 48 1 Landau, Genevieve Millet (Ed.). 1979. The Life Cycle Library for Young People, Volume 1. Parent and Child Books. 2 Brown, Brené. 2021. Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of the Human Experience. New York: Ran- dom House. 3 Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. 2023. 2020 -2025 Dietar y Guidelines for Americans Recommendations. https://www. pcrm.org/good- nutrition/nutrition-programs-policies/2020 -2025-dietar y- guidelines 4 Plumer, Brad. 2020. The Meat Business, a Big Contributor to Climate Change, Faces Major Tests. The New York Times . Published April 17, 2020, Updated September 17, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/climate/meat-industr y-climate- impact.html 5 Manusevich, Annette. 2023. Where are Factor y Farms? World Animal Protection. "Animals in Farming" blog. Posted March 8, 2023. https://www.worldanimalprotection.us/blogs/where-are-factor y-farms communities to buy farm shares to support them. There are also more electric vehicle charging stations appearing in my community that help create positive social pressure to support alter- natives to fossil-fuel powered cars. A new car charging station was installed at Ballard Park in Westport, where there is no fossil-fuel gas station in town. However, there are still no fuel stations to support hydrogen cars in my commu- nity yet, which is something that would further support positive alternatives to fossil-fuel pow- ered vehicles. When people feel their self-worth, they find the motivation to help change unhealthy aspects of our community. Community-supported agri- culture and electric car charging stations are a start, but there is more work to be done. Some unhealthy personal and corporate habits not only contribute to problems in our local community, but also contribute to problems in our global community. Global companies need to provide more local support to the people they serve to help them make conscientious decisions. For example, instead of McDonald's making money by serving factory-farm meat delivered through fossil-fu- el vehicles and calling their customers "users," they could help people in my community through showing more empathy with employees (like pay- ing a living wage) and local farmers (like serving their meat, vegetables, and legumes). Oil compa- nies could start investing in electric car charging stations or in hydrogen fuel-cell infrastructure. It will take empathy on a global level to help solve global community problems like climate change. Above all, people in my community need to show more empathy toward each other. Problems like poverty, homelessness and social isolation are the direct result of a loss of empathy and too much shame. Sharing what we have with others, being open and honest about what we think is right through respectful discussions and debate help people follow their conscience and form healthy habits. By following their conscience to form healthy habits, people can help my com- munity with problems just by going about their everyday business. Above: Kaidence Moore (left) and Evan Beech (right) read their essays at the Adirondack Center for Writing event celebrating the winners of the "Dreams For My Community" writing contest. Photos courtesy of Adirondack Center for Writing.