Climate Anxiety and the Communities I need

Also: Moon of Crusted Snow and Starfleet Academy

Hey everyone,

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been struggling with the footage of wildfires all over the place. These are becoming more common, and more intense too.

It’s in these moments that I miss my friends the most. Those of us from Lebanon are now in six or seven or eight different countries, and the perks of the internet, which has allowed me to become close to people I would have never met otherwise, is also its main downside for me: a daily reminder that we live far away from one another.

It’s been a tough few however long, and it is getting tougher. I try my best to not let it get to me, but it doesn’t always work out. It is what it is. I still think I cope ‘better’ than I used to, but it remains a process.

Right now, I need to find a way to live with this without first giving up. Hope over resignation. I got a kid, resignation isn’t an option. She didn’t do shit to deserve this shit, and neither did I. We’re not the billionaires and fossil fuel companies and states that have not only made this apocalypse but actively accelerated it. I’m not the Canadian PM casually saying emissions will ‘have’ to rise for some time, nor am I the latest British PM talking about drilling yet again. I’m not these spineless cowards, but I also have to adapt to the world they are creating for me and my family and loved ones without letting my anxieties guide me.

I need to also let go of the coping mechanism that’s the fantasy of us all meeting up somewhere and staying there. Different passports, visas, financial restrictions, that whole jazz — I know it can’t be done. My rational side is well aware of it. There’s no debate. And yet, in these moments I still find myself longing for that impossibility.

But as I said, I cope better now. I know that I need to continue learning how to do solo as well as community prepping (any prepping that’s not community-oriented is delusional). I’m now learning some basic wilderness medicine stuff. To be honest, I’m mostly doing it because it feels good to learn something like that. I’m also forcing myself to read fiction, because it helps me emotionally regulate myself better - and that’s a prerequisite for effectively responding to our global crises.

This is why I’m re-reading Waubgeshig Rice’s astonishing book “Moon Of the Crusted Snow” (and its sequel, “Moon of the Turning Leaves”) ahead of my interview with him (on my podcast, The Fire These Times) in a couple of weeks. I needed to read a post-apocalyptic story from a writer whose people - the Anishinaabe - have already experienced their fair share of apocalypses. The books’ community oriented ethos is what we all need right now.

I’m also watching Starfleet Academy (ignore the IMDB reviews - they’re the result of racist incels on X having too much time on their hands) because Star Trek remains one of the better ways I’ve found to deal with this world. It’s been great. Really wholesome show. Will do an episode on my other podcast, the Star Trek one, Resistance is Fertile, about it soon.

Whatever you need to do (within reason) to deal with climate anxiety and grief, please do it. It doesn’t have to make sense. It just needs to actually help.