Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Monday, January 28, 2019

W

ith 
our stomachs 

full of popcorn and 
Buncha Crunch (the 

best movie snack combination), 
my brother and I drove home 
after seeing “On the Basis of 
Sex,” the story of now-Supreme 
Court 
Justice 
Ruth 
Bader 

Ginsburg 
and 
her 
history-

changing 
case 
on 
gender 

discrimination 
as 
a 
young 

attorney. We began our usual 
movie debrief and analysis, 
discussing how the characters 
were depicted, what we loved, 
what we would have changed 
and how the film made us feel. 
It was everything we could have 
asked for in a film about RBG 
(besides the fact that Felicity 
Jones, who plays her, isn’t 
Jewish — but that is for another 
column). 

We could not get over how 

strong, soft and confident RBG 
was depicted in the film. We 
were so fired up and empowered 
by watching her story. So I 
asked my brother where he 
thought she got her sense of 
security and confidence. He 
thought it had to be from her 
supportive husband Marty, who 
believed in her, was her equal 
and stood beside her always. I 
thought she learned it from her 
mother, because, in the film, 
they gave us some background 
about her teaching Ruth to 
question everything. But then 
I thought her confidence could 
have come from a secureness in 
her skills, knowledge or talent. 
And if she didn’t believe in 
herself, was she just channeling 
the classic lesson: Fake it until 
you make it? 

Regardless of how RBG 

gained her confidence, she 
was a key leader in change and 
challenged the status quo in her 
own way. Ruth Bader Ginsburg 

harnesses soft energy, a type 
of spirit that is thoughtful and 
nurturing yet still comamands 
people’s attention. She is soft-
spoken, 
thoughtful, 
detail-

oriented and sensitive. With all 
of these soft traits she holds, 
she also has the confidence to 
implement them into her work. 
When picking the series of 
cases that made discrimination 
of gender illegal, she looked at 
the details and knew how to 
frame it to the Supreme Court. 
She knows the power of her 
skills, knowledge and gifts and 
uses them to create change. As 
of late, I have been trying to 
channel my soft energy because 
I, too, am one big softie.

I have always been pretty 

self-aware of my emotional 
intelligence, 
sensitivity, 

nurturing 
abilities 
and 

relationship skills. I thought 
this 
skill 
set 
could 
only 

be really beneficial in my 
personal life and caretaking 
for children or older adults. 
This past year, I became the 
president of my cooperative 
house without holding the 
stereotypical 
characteristics 

of a president. I didn’t have 
the intention of being a leader 
in my house, but by building 
strong relationships with my 
housemates over time, being 

passionate about the future 
of our house and being my 
authentic soft self, I was able 
to gain this position. Being the 
president continues to show me 
how my soft traits positively 
impact my leadership style and 
power.

So, if I am aware of my 

strengths, how do I gain the 
confidence to apply these traits 
and put myself out there to 
work toward positions that 
scare me or are further out of 
reach? How can I harness my 
soft energy the way RBG did 
in law school and continues to 
do today as a Supreme Court 
justice? RBG never changed 
herself or her style to gain a 
position in power. She is a great 
example of how feminine, soft 
people can lead without having 
an iron fist or hard, masculine 
energy. I’m lucky to have 
someone in power with whom 
I share identities: being a white 
Jewish woman and setting the 
path which she did not have 
before her. Perhaps due to her 
position in the world — the 
privileges she holds and her 
intersecting role as one of the 
few woman in a field dominated 
by men — she has been able to 
cultivate her confidence.

From now on, I am going 

to continue harnessing my 
soft energy and remember 
that it can positively impact 
my leadership and power, 
even if I have to fake it until 
I make it. I think that when 
we are confident in our own 
abilities, even if they challenge 
the 
stereotypical 
image 
of 

power, we can create change 
and lead those around us in our 
own way.

Soft energy is power

Ellery Rosenzweig can be reached at 

erosenz@umich.edu.

Emma Chang
Joel Danilewitz

Samantha Goldstein

Elena Hubbell
Emily Huhman
Tara Jayaram

Jeremy Kaplan

Sarah Khan

Lucas Maiman

Magdalena Mihaylova

Ellery Rosenzweig

Jason Rowland

Anu Roy-Chaudhury

Alex Satola
Ali Safawi

 Ashley Zhang
Sam Weinberger

FINNTAN STORER

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AND JOEL DANILEWITZ

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All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

The first step to fighting climate change is thinking small
T

he summer of 2018 saw 

a 
popular 
collective 

movement 
from 

companies and consumers alike 

as they rallied against the use of 

plastic straws. Companies such 

as Starbucks began to announce 

the 
eradication 
of 
plastic 

straws from their practices. In 

large part, this movement was 

in response to a viral video 

depicting a sea turtle with a 

plastic straw caught in its nose 

that sparked a conversation 

between 
many 
online. 
This 

video (thats original upload 

amassed over 30 million views) 

provided the perfect spark that 

triggered a movement leading to 

the plastic straw apocalypse.

This is in large part because 

it is easy to enact change when 

the dilemma has a tangible (and 

cute) icon, like sea turtles, and 

puts a real face on the thing 

doing them harm: straws. In 

our country alone, we learned 

Americans 
use 
500 
million 

straws every single day. And so 

the story wrote itself — if you 

want to be environmentally 

conscious and do your part, all 

you need to do is forgo the straw 

and save a turtle! However, the 

sobering reality is that plastic 

straws only account for about 

0.02 percent of total ocean 

plastic — a quite literal drop in 

the ocean of plastic.

I don’t want to say this is a 

bad thing — quite the contrary. 

I am all for ditching the straw 

and “saving the turtle” at every 

opportunity. In fact, this is 

a good example of how non-

environmentally-minded people 

can 
support 
environmental 

causes when given the proper 

motivation. As great as this 

moment is, imagine if we could 

take the momentum generated 

surrounding 
plastic 
straws 

and apply it to other, larger 

environmental causes such as 

climate change — one of the 

biggest economic threats of 

our generation.

Truthfully, this tactic has 

already been tried to no avail. 

Growing up as a kid, I remember 

watching the documentary “An 

Inconvenient Truth” for the 

first time. Controversial for 

the era, the 2006 documentary 

highlighted and explained the 

problem of global warming and 

called its viewers to action to do 

something about it. Of the many 

stories and facts given during 

the film, the images that stuck 

with me the most were of polar 

bears swimming around, unable 

to find stable ice. The narration 

explained the melting of arctic 

ice was destroying these bears’ 

homes, and if global warming 

continued uninhibited, there 

would be no more polar bears.

This is the exact same kind 

of situation that led to the 

plastic straw craze over the 

summer: an innocent animal 

being harmed by the unintended 

consequences of human activity. 

Yet the campaign to save the 

polar bears failed to reach 

a more general audience in 

the same way. Perhaps that is 

because it was pre-social media, 

or that our generation is more 

motivated 
by 
environmental 

concerns 
than 
previous 

generations (both of which are 

reasonable, plausible answers 

to why there was not the same 

kind of movement then as there 

is today).

I would offer a third possible 

answer. 
The 
main 
reason 

everyday people are willing 

to forgo straws in the name of 

saving the environment is not 

due to some newfound respect 

for nature but rather a result 

of the ease of changing actions. 

Saving the polar bears implies 

drastically 
changing 
our 

lifestyle — mainly the reduction 

of fossil fuel consumption. And 

regardless if you hate fossil 

fuels, every single American 

benefits from how cheap and 

convenient these fuels are. Even 

as clean, renewable alternatives 

are rapidly becoming cheaper 

and more efficient, we are still 

rely heavily on fossil fuels.

Plastic 
straws 
and 
sea 

turtles, on the other hand, 

require a much simpler response. 

After all, unless you need them 

for medical reasons, refusing 

straws has little impact on our 

everyday lives. It’s much easier 

than trading in your gas guzzler 

and installing solar panels in 

order to save a polar bear. So the 

question arises: How can we get 

people motivated about climate 

change in the same way?

The 
answer 
to 
fighting 

climate change lies in breaking 

down a seemingly impossible 

monumental 
problem 
into 

everyday, small-scale decisions.

Take 
meat 
consumption, 

for example. According to the 

Environmental 
Protection 

Agency, livestock production 

results 
in 
greenhouse 
gas 

emissions, primarily through 

the 
natural 
production 
of 

methane. In order to make a dent 

in reducing carbon emissions, 

we are going to need to reduce 

the amount of meat we consume.

When most people hear that, 

they scoff and make a claim 

about how we are natural meat 

eaters, and how they would 

never go vegan. As frustrating 

as it is to hear people be so 

dismissive 
immediately, 
I 

cannot blame them. I consider 

myself an environmentalist, yet 

I still consume meat (I mean, 

Chick-fil-A 
nuggets 
are 
too 

good to pass up, right?).

The 
misconception 
here 

is 
that 
changing 
our 
food 

consumption needs to be a 

drastic, 
life-altering 
vow. 

Instead 
of 
trying 
to 
get 

everyone 
to 
go 
completely 

vegan, we should start by trying 

to make conscious, modest yet 

impactful choices to reduce our 

consumption. The aggregation 

of these small choices will result 

in a huge impact on climate 

change. For instance, if every 

American simply forwent meat 

just one day a week, it would 

be the equivalent of taking 7.6 

million cars off the road.

When 
framed 
this 
way, 

suddenly the impossible seems 

conceivably possible. After all, 

how much would it really cost 

us to drop the steak dinner once 

a week?

Even more exciting news 

is 
the 
development 
of 
the 

alternative 
meat 
industry. 

Products such as the Impossible 

Burger 
or 
Beyond 
Meat 

offer a meat alternative that 

tastes, feels and is otherwise 

interchangeable 
with 

traditional beef at a fraction 

of the environmental impact. 

Prices for these alternatives 

are already competing with the 

real thing. Pretty soon we will 

be able to save the environment 

while still getting our beef fix.

If we are going to make a 

serious dent in climate change, 

and 
save 
the 
polar 
bears, 

Americans will seriously need 

to reconsider their consumptive 

habits. Partaking in “Meatless 

Mondays,” 
while 
a 
great 

beginning, is not the be-all, 

end-all of climate solutions. Not 

to mention, fighting climate 

change is not solely a consumer-

responsible task (indeed, we 

will need larger institutional 

support as well). Changing a 

culture takes time, but we need 

to start somewhere, and if we 

focus on it there can be real, 

tangible change.

Timothy Spurlin can be reached at 

timrspur@umich.edu

TIMOTHY SPURLIN | COLUMN

ELLERY ROSENZWEIG | COLUMN

MARISA WRIGHT | COLUMN

U-M needs an all-female work space

G

rowing up as a young 
woman means that you 
are constantly on display. 

Everywhere you go — at school, 
at the grocery store, at volleyball 
practice, at church, at the pool, 
even at home — you are always 
open to critique, comments or 
questions related to your body.

If it’s not, “Smile honey,” it’s, 

“Those pants are NOT flattering” 
or “Your bra strap is showing” 
or “Why do you have a ‘lesbian’ 
haircut?” And especially after 
the transition to young adulthood 
— though some girls experience 
this even before puberty — people 
view you through the lens of 
attractiveness. Whether it’s the 
creepy guy scanning you up 
and down at the gas station 
or the “I bet boys are all over 
you” comment at large family 
gatherings, 
your 
existence 

is always in proximity to the 
male gaze.

It’s not just men who do this 

to women, though. One of the 
biggest scams of the patriarchy 
is the system in which women 
are punished for breaking gender 
norms. Some women feel it is 
their duty to police other women 
according to those patriarchal 
norms. For many young women, 
it is often older (and more 
conservative, by way of their age) 
women who push notions of what 
is and is not “acceptable” in public. 
This creates an environment 
where women — young women 
especially — experience criticism 
from all angles, doubly so if you 
are a woman of color, LGBTQIA+, 
differently abled, etc.

It 
can 
be 
maddening, 

heartbreaking and downright 
rage-inducing to constantly field 
gendered and often sexist ridicule. 
Of course, the real solution to 
sexism is to dismantle the white 
supremacist 
heteropatriarchy, 

but what about right now?

In Fall 2016, The Wing, a 

community and co-working space 
designated for women, opened 
in New York City. Founder of 
The Wing, Audrey Gelman, 
developed the idea for a space 
just for women after spending 
her birthday at a girls-only party, 
realizing the importance of 
“ladies’ nights” for women.

Eventually, 
Gelman 

partnered with Lauren Kassan to 
open The Wing after finding that 
other co-working spaces couldn’t 
offer what they were looking for. 
Though they take inspiration 

from early women’s clubs in the 
19th and 20th centuries, Gelman 
and Kassen make inclusivity a 
priority by encouraging trans 
and non-binary folks, people of 
color and low-income women 
to apply for membership, even 
offering a scholarship to ensure 
it is accessible for everyone.

Partly for socializing and 

partly for working, The Wing 
offers much more than a typical 
work space, including events 
with speakers like politician 
Hillary 
Clinton 
or 
actress 

Kerry 
Washington, 
blowouts, 

showers, lactation rooms, a cafe 
and a daycare for women with 
children. Since the success of the 
first space in Soho, New York, 
the company has expanded to 
six other locations, including 
Washington, 
D.C. 
and 
San 

Francisco, and plans to open 
in five other cities including 
Chicago, London and Toronto, 
making a total of eleven Wings.

More than the amenities and 

chic decor, the Wing offers a 
space for women to exist outside 
all the ways in which women are 
marginalized. It’s not just about 
making a safe space for women, 
though. It’s about making a space 
where women are celebrated 
and can celebrate each other. A 
space for women allows women 
to create community through 
socializing with and supporting 
one another.

Gelman 
told 
business 

magazine Fast Company, “The 
air feels different when it’s 
only women. The atmosphere 
is incredibly warm, there’s an 
absence of competition or snark 
or cattiness. Everyone is just 
really excited to be here and to 
meet new people.”

I know the feeling, especially 

at the University of Michigan. I 
am a double major in Political 
Science and Women’s Studies, 
and I’m sure you can guess 
which 
classes 
are 
mostly 

women and which are not. In 
contrast to my male-dominated 
political science classes, my 
women’s studies classes are 
not just different in content but 
different in atmosphere. There 
is less tension in the air. People 
are friendly, understanding and 
supportive. No one interrupts 
you or mansplains to you. No 
one invades your personal space 
while pretending to be clueless 
about the whole thing. Everyone 
is considerate and professional. 

It is less a matter of social 
bonding and more a matter 
of just being treated like a 
human being.

It is difficult to articulate 

in words, like really any feeling 
is, but I feel a sense of comfort, 
a sense of ease in my bones 
when I am learning surrounded 
by women. I am no longer 
on display. I am no longer 
expected to perform — or risk 
punishment for breaking — 
social norms that cater to men. 
I can relax — opening myself up 
to new possibilities for learning, 
understanding and engaging.

There 
are 
also 
concrete 

learning benefits for women 
in all-female spaces. Nilanjana 
Dasgupta, a Psychological and 
Brain Sciences professor at the 
University of Massachusetts at 
Amherst, found that first-year 
women engineering students, 
“participate more actively” and 
“feel less anxious” when they are 
in mostly female or gender-equal 
groups.

An all-female work space 

would not be disrupting the 
many 
benefits 
of 
a 
co-ed 

university, such as a wider 
range of perspectives and the 
opportunity to learn to work 
in teams with other genders. 
An all-female work space at 
the University, inclusive of any 
female-identifying 
person, 

would 
simply, 
but 
notably, 

allow female students in a work 
environment free from gendered 
pressures and expectations, a 
place they can be re-energized in 
their academic pursuits by other 
women. Specifically, this space 
might take inspiration from The 
Wing by holding events centered 
around celebrating women and 
their 
achievements 
through 

hosting speakers or educational 
and social events, which would 
elevate the space from just being 
a refuge to being a space for 
empowerment.

College 
life 
outside 
of 

academic pursuits can be a soup 
of young people riddled with 
freedom, hormones and alcohol 
who are looking for hookups. A 
place for young female students 
to escape, to live even for just a 
few hours outside of the world 
that constantly undermines and 
undervalues 
their 
existence, 

would be transformative.

Marisa Wright can be reached at 

marisadw@umich.edu.

She knows the 
power of her 

skills, knowledge 
and gifts and uses 

them to create 

change

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The aggregation 

of these small 

choices will result 
in a huge impact 
on climate change

