We Are The Boat

After COP26, are we still united in our varying levels of hope? After COP26, what does all of the increased variety in our levels of hope do to our community? Does it weaken our solidarity with each other? If it’s still possible to retain a community between those who still have a lot of hope and those who have little or no hope, then that means that we, as individuals, don’t need to fear that we will “lose our community,” if, on some days, we find ourselves at one level of hope or another. Retaining a sense of community is a source of strength for any and all individuals who find themselves at any point on the “hope spectrum.” So after COP26, is it possible to retain that community? I believe it is possible, and I’ll attempt to show you how using the following three questions: 1.     How can different people with these various perspectives form good relationships with each other, and learn to understand each other? 2.     Is it even possible to ...

Long haul work in the climate crisis In groups that struggle together Aware of our undercurrents of emotion That we feel both collectively, and individually We glance at each other and know This isn’t easy for each of our hearts Collectively, we stare at a heartless sea Individually, we each struggle with our own integral branch of our struggling tree We ask each other, “How are you doing?” While the raging storm of climate insanity Threatens to blow us off our feet We ask ourselves, “How are we doing?” All the while, deep down, our gentle hearts long for gentler things Like the joy of life, the nuance of love So paradoxically our struggle is to hold dear that precious core where struggle gives way to nurture In the storm of a heartless world We struggle to shape a world of caring Refashioning our only home Despite the raging winds of denial We need change and change fast But the recipe needs to slow cook Deep is the root of the problem And deep is the root of the solution Against a ba...

    Our “will to live” is strong! It has helped many to overcome huge obstacles: Ask anyone who has lived through a battle with disease, has overcome massive injury, has gone through a major surgery, or has dealt with emotional trauma. Many of those who have courageously battled serious disease can tell you that the will to live is even stronger than hope. Even when hope is gone, the will to live endures. Also, our “will to live” can counter fear. It can deal with that fear obstacle even when the fearful facts that we face are about the very real threat of the climate crisis, which threatens to end all of humanity, and which threatens to do so through a period of massive, human suffering at an unimaginable scale. Our will to live can counter even that fear. Our will to live is strong enough to face even that crisis. In fact, it wants to face that crisis… … because facing that crisis is one of the things we need to do to continue to live. In the climate...