On Wednesday, Oct. 28th, Sage Center hosted its second Speaker Series event of the year. 

The Sage Center speaker series invites experts in different fields to share their insights and understandings of a particular topic. Speaker events used to be held in the Sage Hill Black Box Theater, but under the current light of COVID-19, they have been brought online in the form of Zoom webinars. 

The speaker of this event was Tatiana Schlossberg, an experienced journalist on environmental issues and the granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy. 

In her speech, Schlossberg outlined four areas—internet and technology, food, fashion, and fuel—that impact the environment in ways often unknown to the general public. By sorting out a series of chain reactions, she explains how browsing the internet in New York could burn coal in Virginia, or how generating electricity in Europe could result in deforestation in the Americas. In other words, it is nearly impossible for a consumer to make a choice that does not affect the world habitat.

These topics are also covered in her book titled Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have, published in 2019, where Schlossberg uses humor and different perspectives to effectively point out how climate and environmental change is all around the world humans live in. 

“People seem to overlook their [environmental impacts]… and I want to put [environmental issues] in the context of our lives in a way that would make sense,” Schlossberg said. 

Everyone can play a part in helping to conserve the environment and encourages people to be more thoughtful in their everyday choices and daily habits, she said. 

“I don’t think we should feel individually guilty about climate change,” Schlossberg said, “I think we should feel collectively responsible for building a better world.”