⛏ Hope is an Axe ⛏
“There’s a song we sing when people get arrested,” said Benjamin. “Courage, courage my friends, you do not walk alone.”
Benjamin, a 22-year-old Montanan who’s taking a year off from Cornell to be a full-time organizer with youth-led climate action group Sunrise Movement, was telling me what it was like to occupy Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi’s office this November. In the sterile environment of my office, sitting alone in a conference room under the fluorescent lights, talking about the Green New Deal made me feel something I haven’t felt in a long time about the environment: hopeful.
For my whole life, “Save the Planet” has been a toothless catchphrase. We really do need to save the planet, including ourselves, but the best we can do is bicker over parts-per-million and organize a parade with a bunch of big puppets in it. Now, as the dread of mass extinction sinks in for young people especially, it’s clear that Americans can either act now to force society-wide change… or within a generation, we won’t be able to recognize the places where we live. The environmental movement, which has for a century been dominated by white, middle-class Sierra Club values, is now being woken up by a young people of color who have no choice but to be fearless. The people who contribute the least to climate change—poor people—will suffer the most, as they have the least resources to pick up and move or recover after disasters like hurricanes and fires, to buy more water when the local source is polluted, or to buy filters for their homes when the air is too toxic to breathe.
“We’re reckoning with how all of these issues: climate crisis, racism, poverty, and classism, are inner-connected,” said Benjamin. “I think in the past, climate activists have not done the best job at communicating the urgency of the crisis.” Phrases like “global warming” and “climate change” don’t convey the grim reality that millions of people will die if we don’t change our ways. At a UN Climate Conference in 2009, African and Pacific Islander leaders chose a different word: “genocide.”
I don’t know when I started to think this was inevitable. Somewhere in my mid-twenties, my thinking on the environment shifted from “we can fix this!” to “we’re doomed!” I think it goes hand-in-hand with growing bitterness over the whole political process. When I was younger, I really believed anyone could grow up to be president. And that a good president would lead the country in a good direction. Years of working as a journalist made me think that, actually, our political institutions are about preserving the wealth of the rich. We’ll never make change that threatens capitalists.
Today, the Sunrise Movement shared a video of Senator Dianne Feinstein condescendingly dismissing the chances of the Green New Deal to a bunch of elementary schoolkids who came to her office to ask for her support. She told them, “I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I know what I’ve been doing.”
Senator Feinstein is exactly right. We’ve been doing things the establishment way for thirty years. We desperately need to change. As Rebecca Solnit wrote in Hope in the Dark, “Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency.”
Top photo: Sara Kenigsberg / MoveOn
Stuff I Made
Nazi-Fighting Comic - I edited a bunch of comics that The Nib published this past month, but this one about the life of gay, Jewish anti-Nazi resistance fighter Gad Beck must be my favorite.
A month of zines - Today I’m making zine number 50 for my year of zines project! One 215 more to go!
Stuff I Love
Square Dancing - When I tell people how much square dances are, they very rarely believe me. But, guys, square dancing is way more fun than you think it would be! I went to a queer-friendly square dance this last weekend and won an apple pie (as seen above)! Excellent old time square dances happen one Sunday a month in Portland (and also in West Philly!).
Where Should We Begin? I am currently obsessed with this podcast where relationship therapist Esther Perel records one-time couples counseling sessions. Holy cow, this is the window into other peoples' lives that I have always craved! Also, Esther's tough advice makes her the Judge Judy of our era.
Russian Doll - Did I watch this entire TV series in one night? Yes, yes I did. And then I read every article possible about the all-female creative team!
Sharon Van Etten - I got the chance to see her in concert this week! At this rate, it might be the only concert I see all year. Check out her song “Seventeen.”
Crossed - This comic about the lasting psychological trauma that happens when a family is split up by ICE is in The Nib’s “Family” issue and I dare you to try to read it without crying.
Someone to Know
In January, I was invited to a stand-up comedy show in a prison. The event was the semester-end showcase of a comedy class taught at Columbia River Correctional Institute by students in Portland State’s Art and Social Practice MFA program. I kind-of dread going to stand-up comedy because I’m always anxious that the comedians won’t be funny and then I’ll be trapped there, feeling awkward. But this show was amazing and I sat through the whole two hours, entranced. The class invited non-incarcerated comedian Mohanad Elsheiky to perform. Mohanad is originally from Libya and one day before the prison performance, he was pulled off a Greyhound bus in Spokane, WA, by Border Patrol agents who documentation was falsified and that they could find no record of his asylum status. And yet he still made it to the prison set on time! In addition to his impressive punctuality, he is also very funny.
Something to Do
For the Love of God, Switch to a Credit Union
This week my friends and I got into a conversation about how some of them are still using Bank of America and Wells Fargo. WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING. BANKS. ARE. A. SCAM. They are actively taking your money and using it to give bad loans to Black and Latinx people. Unless it’s absolutely too complicated in your life to use a credit union, spend literally 10 minutes to close your bank account and open one at a credit union. Here’s a credit union locator. My credit union gives me interest on checking, free meetings with a financial advisor, covers any ATM fees, and doesn’t charge overdraft fees. You’re welcome!
I’ll write again soon! In the meantime, you can keep in touch on Instagram or Twitter. Is this your first time receiving this newsletter? You can see the archive here.