Thank you for this piece, Emily. It speaks to my conflicts and my heart. The issues ARE all connected. So thank you for keeping at what you do best and for making the connections.
I feel it gratifying to read that you find yourself motivated by spite, because it honestly motivates me a lot, too. Fuck this administration and all the fascists who support it. Also, those cookies look damn good.
You said it all, I'll just reinforce that the fossil fuel industry elected Trump and continues to obscenely finance him and his successors--we must never forget Project 2025 architects are waiting with baited breath to take over. So, there is a direct, hard line between FF and state terror.
I feel many of us doing good work are feeling just like you. I am kind to myself, take breaks to hug my dogs, go out in the woods for a few hours, and listen to music. Then I return to the work in bits and pieces. If you need to produce less content right now, we subscribers and readers completely understand. Thank you!
I feel you and share those same feelings. And with so many friends turning away from all news, not just climate-related, it's doubly hard to get them to even want to talk about it, let alone keep up with the latest.
And for some warped reason, I feel a responsibility, as I have since I was a teenager, to keep up with all the news, from a broad spectrum of sources, even the worst, most depressing developments, and then share them with folks in my social circles.
When it gets to be about midday and I'm overwhelmed with sorrow and ready to start crying, I switch off the news and put on music and turn to creative work or housework.
For those of us who have worked on climate issues for 15 years or more it's been hard enough to watch as we moved from mitigation possibilities to adaptation realities all while the fossil fuel alliance pushed us to worst case scenario at every turn. And now their power has been supercharged.
That was bad enough. But then when the January 6 insurrection exposed the connections between Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and other White Christian Nationalist organizations and the oil and gas industries, we could see and feel the danger and threat of this unholy alliance.
Today the look and tactics of ICE and the other secret police invading and then occupying American cities seems exactly the same as those who invaded and occupied the capitol in 2020 and tried to overthrow the election results.
And environmental activists and journalists have good reason not only to feel depressed and overwhelmed we also have cause to watch our backs. Activists and journalists are already being labeled as domestic terrorists and anti-American because of their support for renewable energy, conservation and environmental regulations. You only have to look at other oil run governments in other nations to see how those kind of people get imprisoned or killed.
It's no wonder none of us know what to do. But I think we all know what we're not supposed to do, and that's to give up. We're not supposed to let the bad guys intimidate and scare us into stopping doing what we do, or to shut up, or to stop calling them on their shit.
And when you think about it, we probably do know what to do and we're doing it.
We're checking on our friends and family, caring for one another and making our bonds even stronger.
We're reaching out to wider networks and connecting with like-minded neighbors and community members who we never would have otherwise. We're showing up in the streets at every opportunity, we're supporting more groups that need our help, and we're ready to do more.
I'm 68 and I'm tired of this shit. But I'm not so tired that I'm giving up. Especially not to these bastards.
Yes to everything you've written, Emily. I would add corruption as another link among these issues that the Trump regime and its enablers want us to believe are separate. The billions of dollars flowing from the private prison, surveillance, defense, fossil fuel, and tech industries, among others, prop up a violent state that sees everything--humans, other species, ecosystems--as objects to be controlled and dispatched with. Their inability to recognize our fundamental interconnectedness drives their psychosis.
I am definitely going to copy and quote you on one paragraph but I got a nice chuckle by your last sentence... bake! That is exactly where I went on this icy day in Texas where all events are canceled for 3 days or more. I baked kale quiche and lots of caramel popcorn. Your cookies look divine.
I like what Renee wrote: be kind to yourself and it you need to take a break and produce less content, don't feel guilty for it. Care fore yourself as well as the life on this miracle planet.
I will tell you how I get through all of this. The same way you do. I write about it every week. I share my outrage with the world in a Substack (and other platforms) post every Wednesday at Crann na beatha-The Tree of Life.
I'm old enough to be a Vietnam War veteran, although I was involved with nearly every other war the U.S. started since then until I retired in 2004. My outrage at what I learned about the U.S. in 2002 when I went to Afghanistan, has carried over into my current activism today.
You're very correct in that global warming is causing mass migrations, which is causing stressors on the northern hemisphere, which is creating more conflict over resources and so it goes. The morbidly wealthy are feeling the squeeze and lashing out. They now have a massive influence over the planet's largest consumer economy, run by a senile wannabe mobster and the other idiots he hired to help him.
As things continue to fall apart, these same people will use that influence to convince this wannabe mobster that he still has the world's best trained, best equipped, and largest military in the world, (which is a lie now) and to use it against anyone who stands in their way of hoarding as much wealth and power that they can grab. They don't care about the biosphere. They never have, not unless there is money and power in it for them.
What we're seeing in Minnesota is just the start of things to come. Trump and ICE went to basic training in LA last year. They went on to advanced training in Chicago, Charlotte, NC, Memphis and New Orleans. Now, its in full battle mode in Minnesota and Maine because these governors have Somalis in their states and they stood up to the mobster. There will be lots more to come.
The United States is rapidly regressing into something from the old British empire days, when England was nothing but smokestacks and the poor slobs working to keep the wealthiest in their castles and fancy suits.
Keep writing what you write. It's the only way we can flood the zone ourselves. As we pass all of your work on, there will be people who will take notice. Keep fighting and we will keep fighting with you.
Thanks, Emily. In the U.S., fighting for democracy is fighting climate change. The $6 trillion dollar fossil fuel industry has bought Trump (as have others in the Oligarchy, working with white nationalists/fascists) and the rich are pushing us hard.
Big money explains why Congress capitulated (including some share of Democrats), but this small minority is up against 340 million of us and Minnesota is showing the way. My latest Thesteepclime Substack, "Climate Fiction, Climate Fantasy" shows that you are not alone.
Thanks for what you do and how you speak out so clearly. Have a cookie and get back to the work.
Thank you for writing this Substack. There is so much to be heartbroken and angry and confused about. But this Substack is an oasis of sanity for me. Just… thank you.
Thank you, this is a terrific post. To me, it’s “both/and,” not “either/or.” I do my work on climate, but also devote much of my activism to pro-democracy efforts. Especially over the past year, I’ve typically closed my climate talks with this exhortation: “If you want to save the people and places you love, then now is the time to defend democracy, safeguard the rule of law, stick up for science, and build community.”
While self-care is vital, it’s the solidarity of friendships formed over many years of activism that has sustained me during our darker moments and helped pull me forward. Whether it’s climate, justice, democracy, or whatever one’s cause, none of us can do it alone, so cultivating community is crucial to enduring this marathon.
The forces pulling us away from the climate space are real and everywhere. For me, your journalism pulls me back and makes me smarter. You’re a climate force-multiplier—thank you Emily.
I feel you. We have the same problem at Climate Action Now. So much of the activist and donor energy has moved from climate to democracy, and understandably and rightfully so, but climate remains the great threat. So keep on keeping on. I LOVE your work.
Please, please don't question your purpose for a moment, though you may need to take a breath or bake. The sad fact is that the violence that disturbs millions of us is empowering to this administration.
Thank you for this piece, Emily. It speaks to my conflicts and my heart. The issues ARE all connected. So thank you for keeping at what you do best and for making the connections.
♥️
I feel it gratifying to read that you find yourself motivated by spite, because it honestly motivates me a lot, too. Fuck this administration and all the fascists who support it. Also, those cookies look damn good.
Truly I wish I were built differently but nothing gets me out of bed like a thirst for vengeance
You said it all, I'll just reinforce that the fossil fuel industry elected Trump and continues to obscenely finance him and his successors--we must never forget Project 2025 architects are waiting with baited breath to take over. So, there is a direct, hard line between FF and state terror.
*bated....
Go Zan! 💔
Hey, Nancy!
I feel many of us doing good work are feeling just like you. I am kind to myself, take breaks to hug my dogs, go out in the woods for a few hours, and listen to music. Then I return to the work in bits and pieces. If you need to produce less content right now, we subscribers and readers completely understand. Thank you!
Either the dogs or the matriarchy will save this world, Renee. Isn't that right?
I feel you and share those same feelings. And with so many friends turning away from all news, not just climate-related, it's doubly hard to get them to even want to talk about it, let alone keep up with the latest.
And for some warped reason, I feel a responsibility, as I have since I was a teenager, to keep up with all the news, from a broad spectrum of sources, even the worst, most depressing developments, and then share them with folks in my social circles.
When it gets to be about midday and I'm overwhelmed with sorrow and ready to start crying, I switch off the news and put on music and turn to creative work or housework.
For those of us who have worked on climate issues for 15 years or more it's been hard enough to watch as we moved from mitigation possibilities to adaptation realities all while the fossil fuel alliance pushed us to worst case scenario at every turn. And now their power has been supercharged.
That was bad enough. But then when the January 6 insurrection exposed the connections between Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and other White Christian Nationalist organizations and the oil and gas industries, we could see and feel the danger and threat of this unholy alliance.
Today the look and tactics of ICE and the other secret police invading and then occupying American cities seems exactly the same as those who invaded and occupied the capitol in 2020 and tried to overthrow the election results.
And environmental activists and journalists have good reason not only to feel depressed and overwhelmed we also have cause to watch our backs. Activists and journalists are already being labeled as domestic terrorists and anti-American because of their support for renewable energy, conservation and environmental regulations. You only have to look at other oil run governments in other nations to see how those kind of people get imprisoned or killed.
It's no wonder none of us know what to do. But I think we all know what we're not supposed to do, and that's to give up. We're not supposed to let the bad guys intimidate and scare us into stopping doing what we do, or to shut up, or to stop calling them on their shit.
And when you think about it, we probably do know what to do and we're doing it.
We're checking on our friends and family, caring for one another and making our bonds even stronger.
We're reaching out to wider networks and connecting with like-minded neighbors and community members who we never would have otherwise. We're showing up in the streets at every opportunity, we're supporting more groups that need our help, and we're ready to do more.
I'm 68 and I'm tired of this shit. But I'm not so tired that I'm giving up. Especially not to these bastards.
Yes to everything you've written, Emily. I would add corruption as another link among these issues that the Trump regime and its enablers want us to believe are separate. The billions of dollars flowing from the private prison, surveillance, defense, fossil fuel, and tech industries, among others, prop up a violent state that sees everything--humans, other species, ecosystems--as objects to be controlled and dispatched with. Their inability to recognize our fundamental interconnectedness drives their psychosis.
100 percent
I am definitely going to copy and quote you on one paragraph but I got a nice chuckle by your last sentence... bake! That is exactly where I went on this icy day in Texas where all events are canceled for 3 days or more. I baked kale quiche and lots of caramel popcorn. Your cookies look divine.
I like what Renee wrote: be kind to yourself and it you need to take a break and produce less content, don't feel guilty for it. Care fore yourself as well as the life on this miracle planet.
I will tell you how I get through all of this. The same way you do. I write about it every week. I share my outrage with the world in a Substack (and other platforms) post every Wednesday at Crann na beatha-The Tree of Life.
I'm old enough to be a Vietnam War veteran, although I was involved with nearly every other war the U.S. started since then until I retired in 2004. My outrage at what I learned about the U.S. in 2002 when I went to Afghanistan, has carried over into my current activism today.
You're very correct in that global warming is causing mass migrations, which is causing stressors on the northern hemisphere, which is creating more conflict over resources and so it goes. The morbidly wealthy are feeling the squeeze and lashing out. They now have a massive influence over the planet's largest consumer economy, run by a senile wannabe mobster and the other idiots he hired to help him.
As things continue to fall apart, these same people will use that influence to convince this wannabe mobster that he still has the world's best trained, best equipped, and largest military in the world, (which is a lie now) and to use it against anyone who stands in their way of hoarding as much wealth and power that they can grab. They don't care about the biosphere. They never have, not unless there is money and power in it for them.
What we're seeing in Minnesota is just the start of things to come. Trump and ICE went to basic training in LA last year. They went on to advanced training in Chicago, Charlotte, NC, Memphis and New Orleans. Now, its in full battle mode in Minnesota and Maine because these governors have Somalis in their states and they stood up to the mobster. There will be lots more to come.
The United States is rapidly regressing into something from the old British empire days, when England was nothing but smokestacks and the poor slobs working to keep the wealthiest in their castles and fancy suits.
Keep writing what you write. It's the only way we can flood the zone ourselves. As we pass all of your work on, there will be people who will take notice. Keep fighting and we will keep fighting with you.
Thanks, Emily. In the U.S., fighting for democracy is fighting climate change. The $6 trillion dollar fossil fuel industry has bought Trump (as have others in the Oligarchy, working with white nationalists/fascists) and the rich are pushing us hard.
Big money explains why Congress capitulated (including some share of Democrats), but this small minority is up against 340 million of us and Minnesota is showing the way. My latest Thesteepclime Substack, "Climate Fiction, Climate Fantasy" shows that you are not alone.
Thanks for what you do and how you speak out so clearly. Have a cookie and get back to the work.
Thank you for writing this Substack. There is so much to be heartbroken and angry and confused about. But this Substack is an oasis of sanity for me. Just… thank you.
Thank you, this is a terrific post. To me, it’s “both/and,” not “either/or.” I do my work on climate, but also devote much of my activism to pro-democracy efforts. Especially over the past year, I’ve typically closed my climate talks with this exhortation: “If you want to save the people and places you love, then now is the time to defend democracy, safeguard the rule of law, stick up for science, and build community.”
While self-care is vital, it’s the solidarity of friendships formed over many years of activism that has sustained me during our darker moments and helped pull me forward. Whether it’s climate, justice, democracy, or whatever one’s cause, none of us can do it alone, so cultivating community is crucial to enduring this marathon.
The forces pulling us away from the climate space are real and everywhere. For me, your journalism pulls me back and makes me smarter. You’re a climate force-multiplier—thank you Emily.
I know exactly how you feel. But, as we work to eject the current disturbances, Ma Nature continues to react. So press on, regardless!
I feel you. We have the same problem at Climate Action Now. So much of the activist and donor energy has moved from climate to democracy, and understandably and rightfully so, but climate remains the great threat. So keep on keeping on. I LOVE your work.
Please, please don't question your purpose for a moment, though you may need to take a breath or bake. The sad fact is that the violence that disturbs millions of us is empowering to this administration.
I relate to this really deeply and really appreciate you sharing it