mercurial
mercurial
changeable; volatile; fickle; flighty; erratic
My household went through the entirety of 2023 without a vehicle. Appointments were a nightmare, especially in bad weather, but overall it was refreshing. Taking the bus and walking everywhere reconnected me to the city and the environment. The highway commute does a good job at hiding both from you.
Things are different than they were when I was a kid. We tend to talk about climate change as if it’s just starting, but we’ve been rolling down that hill for a while now. The horizon gets hazy with smoke every summer and I’ve spent years on the same bag of driveway salt. Life as we know it has sailed. The current fight is for life to make it at all.
In case you haven’t noticed, every month temperature records are broken. Under the most optimistic climate targets, which we’re definitely not hitting, half of our existing glaciers will be gone within 100 years. They aren't just massive hunks of ice, but systems unto themselves that help absorb the shock dealt by short term temperature fluctuations. Once we lose that padding, those hits are going to hurt even more.
It can be overwhelming to consider the ramifications of these losses. I find it helps to reflect on the things that endure. Roles, functions, and practices not hundreds of years old, but thousands. Hold on tightly to that which oppressors seek to erase, or commodify for their own gain. Plant the seeds they fear most.
Notice when the foundations taken for granted begin to crack. That can be a warning, as well as an opportunity.
ContextFall
Polar Bear in the Grocery Store by Jade Wallace
I Traveled the World to Witness the End of Winter by Porter Fox