Artwork by Jillian Mae, available on Instagram and at www.jillianmaeart.com

We’ve been raised on happy endings and last second saves. This is the recipe for disaster. But not the fun kind like in a disaster movie. Not the kind where Bruce Willis reluctantly accepts the love between Liv Tyler and Ben Affleck. Or where the entire crew of the ship starts singing, “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” Or the kind of writing disaster when the only disaster movie you can think of is Armageddon.

My fear is that the steady intake of these movies, where everyone sits back, clutching pearls, waiting for a hero to save us all—I fear that this has made us totally complacent. Believing that “someone will figure it out before it’s too late.”

“Greta’s got this…no big deal.”

What are we doing? Because I get so depressed knowing that my recycling isn’t actually being recycled that I end up eating an individually wrapped snack chased by inorganic wine made of grapes grown unsustainably while wearing a t-shirt from Target that I’ll end up “donating” in a year, but even that doesn’t really help because Americans donate 4.7 billion pounds of clothes every year. 4.7 billion pounds! Why do we need so many shitty t-shirts?

I get so paralyzed and overwhelmed that I can completely understand why people just want to hear Satan himself reassure them by saying things like, “Our air is the cleanest air ever breathed by humans … the greatest American humans that we’ve ever seen, really, anywhere.”

I’m scared, folks. I feel just like Liv must have. Scared that she might lose everyone she’s ever loved. Confused about that Aerosmith video and the light pornographic nature of it. And just feeling that, maybe like Owen Wilson’s character, I won’t have done enough to matter.

If we want the happy endings, we need to sacrifice together — not wait for a savior. So deep breath in. Put down the goddamn bottle of water. We don’t need to bag our cantaloupe. Promise. Eat some beans tonight. Avoid plastic because it’s the devil.

Instead of waiting, we can be the motherfucking hero.