Stormy Weather
It is hard not to talk about the weather right now, even though the sun peeked out for a bit in the California Bay Area today, offering a brief lull from the winter storms that have been wreaking havoc up and down the state’s coast.
Over these past two days, as heavy downpours from the so-called “bomb cyclone” flooded streets and basements, surging waves battered the Northern California coastline, and high winds tore down trees and power lines, causing at least six deaths, I’ve been thinking about how weather was once considered a safe topic; of how it was often used as “small talk,” to steer turbulent, divisive conversations — such as, say, the attack on Capitol that took place on this day two years ago — into calmer, neutral waters.
Those days are long gone. As the weather (or “climate,” to be technically correct) is getting weirder by the day — excessive rain in California and unusually warm winter in Europe being cases in point right now — so is the conversation around what’s causing it to be that way, thanks largely to the deluge of misinformation on social media, supported by Big Tech, which plays into people’s fears and resistance to new ideas.
Separately, I’ve been following the many heart-warming stories of strangers reaching out to help each other, offering food and shelter to stranded travelers and folks who have been snowed in or flooded out of their homes during the winter storms that have hit so many parts of the country in recent weeks.
It seems to me, our future lies somewhere between these two realities — our instinct to help and our instinct to fear (or deny the existence of) the unknown.
As this new year gets underway, somewhat chaotically, I’m pinning my hope on research that indicates that it’s our natural instinct for compassion that has ensured humanity’s survival so far. May that instinct prevail in the months and years ahead.
Maureen Nandini Mitra
Editor, Earth Island Journal
Photo by Yang Shuo/Unsplash
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