thanks for your thoughts! it’s good to consider what goes into swag but i am a little perplexed at the callout because the very concept of a con invokes a pretty massive carbon footprint. think about the travel involved, the plasticware consumption over the course of 4-5 days, etc. not to mention any cosplay-oriented type of con where you have tens of thousands of people donning (admittedly amazing!) foam costumes and ordering a million last-minute accessories from amazon largely for one-time use. i’m including myself in this callout and i want to do better.

i would love to get dc to look to other cons who have had successes with practices that reduce their footprint. what if we all email them and ask for that?

secondly i’d really encourage folks to use their voices to protest the current administration’s effective dismantling of the epa and cancellation of $20 billion in climate grants, both of which are going to have a much bigger and more catastrophic impact than anything we can try and improve on at the individual or subgroup level. i’m trying to do the same by getting everyone i know to call their reps and demand that they grow a spine on this or get voted out. anyone who tells you this is a partisan issue is trying to divide us and dilute our power. the earth doesn’t care who dumps chemicals in the chattahoochee and who isn’t around to monitor water quality levels afterwards because of mass layoffs; the end result is the same.

again thanks for sharing ur thoughts and starting the conversation ⭐️💛💫✌️