Almost every day, I find myself picking up tiny pieces of plastics and other garbage I’m worried could wash into or near waterways where they could be ingested by birds. It’s not, of course, that I enjoy doing this, but I have seen enough images of the effects of this type of pollution on individual animals that I think it’s worth it.

And, recently, I’ve been paying a bit more attention to my attitude in these moments, knowing that, ideally, each is an opportunity, not to feel triggered in any way, but to express grace and forgiveness. This person, I imagine, was simply celebrating a milestone when releasing an immense amount of plastic confetti all over the entrance to his or her university after graduating. Or, these others were perhaps feeling frustrated or in pain and didn’t know what to do about it but try to inflict pain on the world at large in the hope that what may amount to a million little anonymous calls for help may be heard. Well, now they have been noticed and I will keep working on ways to try to help more people be heard, but as for the use of animals or ecosystems as a means of communicating such need – I will take a stand against it today.

People often refer to the 2016 election as a protest vote, and I believe this descriptor is accurate. But I still feel too little attention is paid to what could be termed other protest actions we all encounter practically every day; and I feel confident that what we see on scales both large and small could be called protest pollution, protest addiction, and protest withdrawal from the world.

Most media organizations are not helping. As much need as there is for levity, it can still feel like even playful behaviors by modern news outlets like drinking and partying on New Year’s Eve with John Mayer or hosting a Justin Timberlake dance party, can feel like continued efforts by media organizations to deprioritize solutions proposed during the women’s movement in corporate journalism.

So, what is to be done for those who still feel so sidelined by what can feel like tone deafness or even an unkind unwillingness to make room for new ideas and solutions that they may be tempted to count their own humanity out? Refuse to let them.