aaah i relate to this so much. "the constant mental arithmetic of what's okay to do and what isn’t." i've moved back home for the moment from the city to the suburbs and am struggling with the car dependence. this was a great piece to read to feel less alone and more hopeful :)
*edit: returning here to say that if you haven't read the work of sarah jaquette ray, i really recommend! she has a book that i haven't read, but also lots and lots of internet articles that i am going through for work that reminded me of some of the topics you bring up in your newsletter. her writing has been some of the most beautiful and motivating and concretely helpful i've read on climate anxiety + action.
Yessss thank you I'm so glad you can relate and feel better for reading it! I will look her up, I love getting recommendations of people to read thank you <3
Stepping back and working with the earth... Thankyou so much. This is popping up in a few places and is what I keep coming back to as how to work for the future without sucking into the hole of war and blame (but still hold the awareness of it, otherwise the option is being naive). I always feel how Wendell Berry put it: "Overgrow the system." Vines come to mind. Pioneer species. Succession. I'm working toward rebooting my Deep Ecology writing courses ("Heart & Place) that I've run for nearly 20 yrs. But then our Black Summer here in Australia and our house and memories (and books!) gone, then covid and with our foresty little community bookshop, mental health... You know. So new workshops have to leap and meet the fast moving times. Words are important, but words in service to what? So I'm esploring deeper, more earthly connected. Life has so much conscious magic, why wouldn't you work from there? After all, our true words, our primal and primary connected language, can't be stopped, always lands in the heart, changes lives.
Thanks for the opportunity for a paragraph's rant. It's actualy been a little opportunity for some creative therapy and motivation. And I love reading your thoughts. (So thanks again)
I enjoyed reading your lil rant Peter! I completely get the words in service thought, I've picked up Savage Gods by Paul Kingsnorth on a reccomendation that it speaks a lot to why are we writing when everything is fucked, so that might be an interesting piece. I would love to hear more about your Deep Ecology course when it's live though!
Isabelle I so feel like this A LOT ALOT and this week we found out our preferred work hotel option that enables easy composting at home without smells or vermin are no longer able to ship to the UK because of brexit and rising costs and it was such an integral part of the project I just felt like giving up. The words of the founder of permaculture swam round my head; “the problem is the solution” and I took a deep breath and pressed submit on my crowd funding campaign! If it’s verified it will give us space to pivot and encourage more support for the research we’ve done and the possibility of what’s next! 🐛✨✨✨ sending sparkles to you! Wonderful piece and timely to remember the mental load and observe our options in it all! At least for now. 💖
Claire, what a disappointment! But it sounds so exciting that it pushed you towards starting your corwd funding. I'd love to share this when it's live <3
aaah i relate to this so much. "the constant mental arithmetic of what's okay to do and what isn’t." i've moved back home for the moment from the city to the suburbs and am struggling with the car dependence. this was a great piece to read to feel less alone and more hopeful :)
*edit: returning here to say that if you haven't read the work of sarah jaquette ray, i really recommend! she has a book that i haven't read, but also lots and lots of internet articles that i am going through for work that reminded me of some of the topics you bring up in your newsletter. her writing has been some of the most beautiful and motivating and concretely helpful i've read on climate anxiety + action.
Yessss thank you I'm so glad you can relate and feel better for reading it! I will look her up, I love getting recommendations of people to read thank you <3
Stepping back and working with the earth... Thankyou so much. This is popping up in a few places and is what I keep coming back to as how to work for the future without sucking into the hole of war and blame (but still hold the awareness of it, otherwise the option is being naive). I always feel how Wendell Berry put it: "Overgrow the system." Vines come to mind. Pioneer species. Succession. I'm working toward rebooting my Deep Ecology writing courses ("Heart & Place) that I've run for nearly 20 yrs. But then our Black Summer here in Australia and our house and memories (and books!) gone, then covid and with our foresty little community bookshop, mental health... You know. So new workshops have to leap and meet the fast moving times. Words are important, but words in service to what? So I'm esploring deeper, more earthly connected. Life has so much conscious magic, why wouldn't you work from there? After all, our true words, our primal and primary connected language, can't be stopped, always lands in the heart, changes lives.
Thanks for the opportunity for a paragraph's rant. It's actualy been a little opportunity for some creative therapy and motivation. And I love reading your thoughts. (So thanks again)
I enjoyed reading your lil rant Peter! I completely get the words in service thought, I've picked up Savage Gods by Paul Kingsnorth on a reccomendation that it speaks a lot to why are we writing when everything is fucked, so that might be an interesting piece. I would love to hear more about your Deep Ecology course when it's live though!
Isabelle I so feel like this A LOT ALOT and this week we found out our preferred work hotel option that enables easy composting at home without smells or vermin are no longer able to ship to the UK because of brexit and rising costs and it was such an integral part of the project I just felt like giving up. The words of the founder of permaculture swam round my head; “the problem is the solution” and I took a deep breath and pressed submit on my crowd funding campaign! If it’s verified it will give us space to pivot and encourage more support for the research we’ve done and the possibility of what’s next! 🐛✨✨✨ sending sparkles to you! Wonderful piece and timely to remember the mental load and observe our options in it all! At least for now. 💖
Claire, what a disappointment! But it sounds so exciting that it pushed you towards starting your corwd funding. I'd love to share this when it's live <3