Phew, I’ve finally finished updating my links page (and fixing all the links that WordPress decided to mess up. Uggh.)
Monthly Archives: July 2013
Hope, despair, and dandelions
Last night I was re-reading Megan Mayhew Bergman’s essay about climate anxiety, the one I linked to a while back, the one I related to so much. (How did she get into my head?)
What struck me was the fundamental disconnect between the gravity of our situation and our national response. As Bergman writes about her childhood earnestness:
When I first jumped on the recycling wagon and heard the word ozone, I believed in America’s greatness, as evidenced by Ruffles potato chips, ET, and Bruce Springsteen. I knew nothing of political parties. I assumed that if a serious problem like global warming was facing the United States, someone would approach the President, tug on his sleeve, and whisper in his ear: It’s time. Roll out the Teslas and solar panels. NASA would press a button and deploy an atmospheric fix. Americans would make sacrifices: driving-free days, a home garden movement, lights-out time. If there was a serious problem like global warming, the right people would step up and solve it.
That’s just it.
On one hand, there’s been so much inspiring action taking place lately. And Obama finally gave a serious, if imperfect, speech about climate change. We’re clearly making progress, building a movement.
But at the same time, the fight against climate change doesn’t feel all-encompassing, inescapable, normality-disrupting the way it should be.
