Sometimes, when the future looks grim, I need to focus on the many people out there caring for the planet and simply have gratitude for all that is going right.
I’ll start on Sunday. I knew there was an email from a teacher in my inbox that I had never responded to. I was determined to find, read and respond to it. I was trying to connect with a third grade teacher at the school where I’ve been promoting active engagement on climate change issues. When I found it, I noticed it was from three weeks ago. Oops.
I called the number she’d left and miraculously, she answered. We talked easily and connected though shared ideas and values. She was going to be out of school the following day so she invited me over to her house to talk the next morning. She lived half a mile away.
We talked for three hours. I shared books, videos, authors and podcasts. I admitted that I had quit teaching because I couldn’t face the children knowing the future we are creating. It was too hard for me to teach and do the other important work necessary.
I am in awe of this teacher. Particularly that she gives up her planning time two days a week to lead the green team her students have named The Emerald City Protectors. When I was a teacher I could not function with out planning time, the 40 or so minute time during the day when the students are in PE or music, time to reflect on the morning and prepare for the rest of the day or week.
The teacher, Ms. W, runs the school garden. She got a grant for a watering system. She teaches her students to be advocates for a clean, healthy future. She admitted she was feeling a little fatigue at being the lone ‘planet protector’ at her school and was very interested in the new resources and ideas I was introducing her to. She showed me her garden and I offered to bring her some compost/worm tea I was brewing. We acknowledged that we had a lot more to talk about and plan.
The next day was the start of the Salish Sea Ecosystem conference. I don’t remember how I had found out about it and wasn’t sure what to expect. Over my head science? Jargony talks? Depressing news? I’m sure all of this was available at the conference, but I was so positively impressed with it. First of all, each morning began with tribal members from all across the Salish Sea sharing stories, their lifeways, their struggles and their successes.
I attended a session titled Ethics and Southern Resident Killer Whales Recovery. Lindsey Schromen-Warren spoke about the status of The Rights of Nature that gave me two particularly meaningful takeaways. One was that while science looks forward, law looks backward, to precedent. That makes it difficult for the law to keep up with big societal shifts. The other takeaway was that much law is based on ideas dating back to the Age of Enlightenment. In order to truly value the rights of nature, so much change will need to take place in how we look at ‘property.’ Tweaking the law will not work or corporations will ask to be renumerated for property lost — in dollar amounts impossible to pay. These were new concepts for me and they made a lot of sense. I am grateful to lawyers and advocates preparing the way for changes to be successful.
I was delighted to find education related sessions. I learned of the Sea Doc Society whose mission is to ensure the health of marine wildlife and their ecosystems through science and education. I found out about the Explore the Salish Sea book and curriculum (I bought a couple of copies from Thriftbooks during the webinar). I also learned of JuniorSeadoctors.com. Best of all, people spoke of bringing the humanities into the discussions Salish Sea issues. Ecosystem health is an interdisciplinary issue! We need art and both written and spoken stories to engage in sharing problems, successes and in imagining potential futures.
The conference brought together people from the United States, Canada, Washington State, British Columbia, The San Juan Islands, Tribal governments — the different stakeholders, governments, agencies and people that share the Salish Sea. An ecosystem doesn’t recognize political boundaries.
During the online conference I made my first DIY screen print of the Extinction Rebellion hourglass symbol with a frame from Goodwill, a pair of pantyhose and some Modge Podge. When it dried, I made 10 prints of varying perfection.
My compost pile hit 150 degrees.
I made my first batch of vermicompost tea.
My son baked blueberry muffins.
My tomato starts are over a foot tall.
At the participatory budget meeting Wednesday evening I offered to discuss one of the ideas I had presented — building a community garden, not individual garden plots, but one large shared garden. King County is offering a ‘pot’ of money to my area through participatory budgeting. I am on a team that is working to research each project and then rate them.
So as an idea creator, I volunteered to have the team ask me questions as a group, so we could practice together. I spoke of the end of the age of separation — the transition off fossil fuels and the inevitable re-localization of our lives. I shared how a community garden will help in the short run by providing food and in the long run by providing a way to share techniques and methods of gardening and how the garden can bring our multicultural area together. After a lot of talk about sidewalks, it felt good to discuss my idea — more focused on working toward a brighter future.
After the meeting I checked my email one more time and saw I had received an email from one of the participatory budgeting group members. When I described where I wanted the garden to be and where I lived, she realized we had met at a ‘Night Out’ in August about 5 years ago. She lives around the corner from me. She gave me her address. It was a friendly way to end the day.
On Friday, I joined the early morning student government meeting at the elementary school. I was pleased to see that they are going to try to incorporate climate solutions into their field day activities. As I was leaving the meeting, a youngster delivered a book on Urban Homesteading to me. It was from the third grade teacher, Ms. W. Her note said it was how she had gotten the inspiration for the school garden program. When I started reading it later, I was delighted to find quotes from Joanna Macy and David Korten. We are indeed on the same page.
I haven’t forgotten the IPCC report. I am disgusted with Elon Musk buying twitter, income inequality, dysfunctional government, the devastation of wars around the world… The list goes on and things seem so hard to change. But small wins and connections make me happy and give me the strength to face the huge challenges ahead.
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This post was previously published on Andrea O’Ferrall’s blog.
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Photo credit: iStock