I've been thinking a lot about @MaryHeglar's thread. I agree with her. And...
When people ask climate activists, "What gives you hope" I think they may actually be asking, "What makes it possible for you to do what you do? And can I have some of that?"
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When people ask climate activists, "What gives you hope" I think they may actually be asking, "What makes it possible for you to do what you do? And can I have some of that?"
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2. I don't think they have the words for this yet though. So they attempt to learn this (clumsily) by asking "what gives you hope?"
3. Reading @fmlappe's excellent, must-read interview in @NYTmag made me think about @MaryHeglar's issue with being asked "what gives you hope."
nytimes.com/interactive/20…
nytimes.com/interactive/20…
4. "I’m not an optimist. I am a possible-ist. We humans are so in need of purpose and meaning that we don’t have to have certainty of outcome. But we do have to have a sense of possibility." ~@fmlappe
5. Yes, there are some who ask "what give you hope" looking for false reassurances and hope.
But I think most are really trying to grabble with something much deeper and important. They're trying to understand how they, personally, can face the climate crisis and act on it.
But I think most are really trying to grabble with something much deeper and important. They're trying to understand how they, personally, can face the climate crisis and act on it.
6. Before I had faced the climate crisis (it's an ongoing, daily decision btw), and acted on it in a meaningful way, I was always baffled by those who did...
7. I asked myself:
"How do they *do* that? We both probably have the same info, yet they are doing something about it, and I am not. Why is that? What have they figured out that makes it possible to face and act on the climate crisis? Cuz I want to, I just don't know how to."
"How do they *do* that? We both probably have the same info, yet they are doing something about it, and I am not. Why is that? What have they figured out that makes it possible to face and act on the climate crisis? Cuz I want to, I just don't know how to."
8. I clearly remember feeling almost envious of @alecconnon, during a @350seattle fundraiser a number of years ago when he was passionately giving a presentation on @350seattle's accomplishments the past year. He said something like, "those of us who know, are compelled to act."
9. I remember thinking, "@alecconnon clearly understands something that I don't. But I wish I did!" He had grabbled with the climate crisis and what it means for humanity and his own life.
10. It took 1) having a group of other people willing to take risks for what is right and that could support one another, and 2) doing something very public and scary for me to have enough skin in the game to really face the climate crisis.
But this wasn't one decision, nah.
But this wasn't one decision, nah.
11. I had to keep deciding to do things. To throw myself at climate – over and over agin – until I *finally* could face it in the way that felt aligned with my own integrity and with, um, reality.
People are hungry for living lives that matter. Maybe one of our tasks is simply to offer a perspective on possibility. On global climate action & for taking action in their own lives. And then deeply listening to them so they can take this on in their own minds and lives. /end
