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In the same week that the Biden administration approved the Willow Project (one of the largest oil projects in the country), the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) sounded the alarm about climate change. “There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.”

What do we do in the face of devastating news? This feels like an important inquiry as embodied activists who understand that we are shaped by the world and we are shaping the world. How do we respond in the face of fear and devastation? What are we willing to risk for our collective survival? Who do we trust to lead us into a more sustainable future? Who do we BE and what do we DO to halt climate change? Where do we source hope?

Living these contradictions illuminate the space between where we are coming from and where we are going. To navigate the distance we must build a capacity that inspires us to go beyond pessimism and despair towards courage and creativity. We can appreciate small steps in the right direction while also holding healthy dissatisfaction for what more needs to be done to reduce harm. And we must practice every single day becoming who we need to be in order to meet the moment and shape the future.

“Fighting for #ClimateJustice is an exercise in optimism and radical hope that we can actually win and not only survive these crises but thrive through them.” says @adrien4ej @GGJalliance Policy Director

Kerri (she/her)

NTK (need to know)

• The American government gives the most help to those who need it least. The High Cost of Being Poor and the true nature of our welfare state.

• What many conservative critics of wokeness actually oppose is the pursuit of equality. “Woke” is just another term for liberal.

• Nebraska hasn't passed a single bill this year because one lawmaker keeps filibustering in protest of an anti-trans bill: 'I will burn this session to the ground'

• World is on brink of catastrophic warming, U.N. climate change report says. but ‘it does not mean we are doomed’ if swift action is taken, scientists say.

• We’ve been indoctrinated to feel shame about our bodies, and to thoughtlessly shame others about their bodies. Sonya Renee Taylor on body terrorism and how we can transform ourselves and each other.

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SOLIDARITY

The question about whether indigenous land acknowledgments do more harm than good is an important one. When a land acknowledgement is not met with real reckoning about historical and real time colonial violence and our place in it, it is reduced to feel good public gestures. In most cases, acknowledgements rarely “acknowledge” the violence and oppression forced upon indigenous people nor do they inspire relationship or right action in the direction of accountability and reparations. Here are some ways we can put our practice into action.

• Learn about the history of the land you live on. You can find whose traditional lands you live on HERE. And explore the history and continued legacy of indigenous treaties in the US HERE.

• Pay a land tax. The Honor Tax is a way of recognizing and respecting the sovereignty of Native Nations, and implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. More information can be found HERE.

• Support indigenous organizing like NDN Collective, National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Raven Trust, Native Organizers Alliance

• Support landback. Land back is a movement committed to getting indigenous lands (lost to colonialism and extractivism) back into indigenous hands. Land back is an orientation, a reparation and an action.

Art by @soni_artist

Practicing optimism

Climate pessimism dooms us to a terrible future. Complacent optimism is no better. So how do we show up? Hannah Ritchie argues that we need to bring optimism with an “edge of dissatisfaction”. Living this contradiction looks like appreciating some of the incremental moves we’ve made in the direction of sustainability and regeneration while also acknowledging that it is insufficient and not good enough. Holding this tension enables us to stay out of the traps of pessimism and complacency and stay curious about new ways of being and doing that mitigate climate change and create possibility. Let us not turn away from the challenging truth of this moment, but turn toward it with courage.

Art by Hannah Ritchie

On the 🗓️

EMBODIED SOCIAL JUSTICE CERTIFICATE: A one-of-a-kind, 3-month certificate program led by Rev angel Kyodo williams and faculty who are committed to collective liberation, increasing awareness and unlearning of oppressive social structures, and repairing belonging. Starts April 3rd!

UNLEARNING WHITENESS: The call for white people to “do the work” is a serious one. This (online) intensive is designed for well-meaning white people who are ready to reckon with how we’re implicated in the system of white supremacy and what it's going to take to detox our body/mind and heal our humanity. March 24 - 26.

WE-NESS

Thanks for subscribing to WELLREAD. For the last six years we’ve been providing folks with the need to know (NTK) news, calls to actions and resources for how to stay engaged and resourced along the way. But now, we’ve added an option to “upgrade to paid” to help sustain our work. While we will never put our content behind a pay wall, we depend on the support of our community to keep us going. 💛