This column really resonates with me! I find maintaining a sense of hopefulness keeps me on the lookout for opportunities to do better, each little thing feels like a breadcrumb of progress. It motivates me to write submissions on council plans, and to “gameify” my own behaviour (eg, keeping track of my cycling kms and allowing myself to be self-congratulatory on achieving milestones). To me, it’s the middle way between being overwhelmed by the big picture, and deciding not to care because one’s own efforts are trivial. Hopefulness makes “the act of doing a little” fun and fulfilling.
I think it is so important to keep pointing out the tactics that the fossil fuel industry are using to peddle doomism. Greenwashing in the front via ads and PR, doomism in the back via lobbying and whispers in politicians’ ears that it’s not worth the effort or political risk. The more we talk about it, the more we show it for what it is.
Thank you for this post, Melanie! I was on a hike this weekend - being in nature is my happy place, and yet I felt this deep grief the whole time I was in the woods. It hurt to see such beauty around me and know that at the end of my hike, I would step back out into a world built on the premise of extraction, exploitation, consumption, and destruction. I think it's important to feel this grief. And yet I know, too, that despair is not a sustainable or productive state! I'm currently reading a wonderful book that speaks to this and to the things you've written about here - "Under the Sky We Make," by Kimberly Nicholas. I highly, highly recommend it! I will be thinking and living differently because of it . . . though what that will look like is still evolving for me.
Thank you for this, Melanie. The press oftentimes only highlights the doom and gloom because it sells better than hope. Thanks for promoting some hopeful pieces as well.
This is a very nice reminder about doomerism / doomism. While the discussion requires patience, I think one of the better approaches to confronting it is to embrace the special nature of the times we live it. It is very difficult for people to grasp exponential change as we are built to count on our fingers. Almost anything of consequence in the history of humanity is RECENT. This includes good trends and bad trends. What makes this the best time to be alive is given sound choices even the most "doomful" things are readily reversible. I am loving your Substack as I survey some of your past postings.
This column really resonates with me! I find maintaining a sense of hopefulness keeps me on the lookout for opportunities to do better, each little thing feels like a breadcrumb of progress. It motivates me to write submissions on council plans, and to “gameify” my own behaviour (eg, keeping track of my cycling kms and allowing myself to be self-congratulatory on achieving milestones). To me, it’s the middle way between being overwhelmed by the big picture, and deciding not to care because one’s own efforts are trivial. Hopefulness makes “the act of doing a little” fun and fulfilling.
Thank you so much. This is so good to read.
I think it is so important to keep pointing out the tactics that the fossil fuel industry are using to peddle doomism. Greenwashing in the front via ads and PR, doomism in the back via lobbying and whispers in politicians’ ears that it’s not worth the effort or political risk. The more we talk about it, the more we show it for what it is.
Thank you for this post, Melanie! I was on a hike this weekend - being in nature is my happy place, and yet I felt this deep grief the whole time I was in the woods. It hurt to see such beauty around me and know that at the end of my hike, I would step back out into a world built on the premise of extraction, exploitation, consumption, and destruction. I think it's important to feel this grief. And yet I know, too, that despair is not a sustainable or productive state! I'm currently reading a wonderful book that speaks to this and to the things you've written about here - "Under the Sky We Make," by Kimberly Nicholas. I highly, highly recommend it! I will be thinking and living differently because of it . . . though what that will look like is still evolving for me.
Thank you for this, Melanie. The press oftentimes only highlights the doom and gloom because it sells better than hope. Thanks for promoting some hopeful pieces as well.
This is a very nice reminder about doomerism / doomism. While the discussion requires patience, I think one of the better approaches to confronting it is to embrace the special nature of the times we live it. It is very difficult for people to grasp exponential change as we are built to count on our fingers. Almost anything of consequence in the history of humanity is RECENT. This includes good trends and bad trends. What makes this the best time to be alive is given sound choices even the most "doomful" things are readily reversible. I am loving your Substack as I survey some of your past postings.