How do I know if environmental problems in my community are actually my responsibility?

This question sits at the heart of what Sor Juana understood about complicity and choice. You're not responsible for systems you didn't create, but you do have agency in how you respond to them. A factory polluting your neighborhood isn't your fault—but staying silent about it, especially if you have resources or a platform others don't, shifts the weight differently. Start here: Who is bearing the burden right now? If it's not you, that's information. Look at who profits from the current arrangement and who suffers. Then ask yourself honestly: what do I know that others might not? What access do I have? What could I risk without losing my shelter, income, or safety? Environmental injustice thrives on invisibility and isolation. Your responsibility isn't to save the world single-handedly. It's to see clearly, stay informed, and decide where your particular knowledge or position lets you act. Sometimes that's testimony. Sometimes it's protection. Sometimes it's simply refusing to look away. The people bearing the burden have already been bearing it—often for generations. The question isn't whether you owe them a solution. It's whether you're willing to stand where you can be seen.