New Year’s Eve has a whole other flavour this year, doesn’t it? Less “Hurray! Let’s celebrate the start of another year!” and more “Is it dead yet? Are we sure? Should we set the corpse on fire to be on the safe side?” I’m drafting this in November–already looking forward, yes, but also anticipating thatContinue reading “Happy Old Year’s End”
Category Archives: Big Picture
organizational culture is toxic
I know! Months between posts, and then two in one week. This isn’t a new thought, but it’s one that keeps coming to me, and I’m curious to hear what you think: Organizational culture is toxic. It fosters us-vs-them thinking. The loyalty it creates among members makes it hard to, for instance, speak out againstContinue reading “organizational culture is toxic”
(Almost) All We Can Save: Review
To begin with: I can’t claim to be unbiased or a disinterested observer (but, no one can). No one reads 108 books about climate change without deep investment, and most of the contributors in this collection I am already familiar with; if not in books, then in newsletters, articles, scientific papers, youtube series, podcasts, documentaries,Continue reading “(Almost) All We Can Save: Review”
reparative reading, Funny Weather and a very hard year
While chronic illness and complex medical conditions have been indisputably good practice for coping with uncertainty and restrictions during a pandemic, they have also had a significant downside, and that is: with medical offices and services shut down to restrict the spread of covid, our own medical conditions have become harder to manage. My diabetesContinue reading “reparative reading, Funny Weather and a very hard year”
love
Would you believe that this is the first thing I’ve embroidered for myself, for my own room, ever? I started it last January or February, and got about 1/3-1/2 of the way done in a year, and then the pandemic hit. Every night I would stitch for an hour, and count little colourful squares toContinue reading “love”
Welcome to the Anti-Racism Movement (reblog)
Entire libraries are filled with scholarship and wisdom about anti-black racism. Consulting companies exist to educate white people about anti-black racism. Free online anti-racism training is widely available and easily searchable. Poets, novelists, dancers, composers, film-makers, singers, bands, have devoted their careers to creating art that explores anti-black racism. I have nothing new to add.Continue reading “Welcome to the Anti-Racism Movement (reblog)”
Covid Comfort
Last Update: April 1 There’s almost 70 stories here now of people acting from their best selves, and my sense is most people have found the thing they’re going to do, whether it’s organizing virtual dinner parties or finding ways to express care during isolation and quarantine or thanking front-line workers or supporting their communityContinue reading “Covid Comfort”
Never argue with a conspiracy theorist
You can’t work in the climate field without regularly talking to people who think organizing 99% of the world’s climatologists into a mass conspiracy of fake-consensus is no big deal. I can only assume that none of them have ever managed a project, or even tried to get a group of 12 people to agreeContinue reading “Never argue with a conspiracy theorist”
the dance party at the end of the universe
I have a hunch: a lot of people don’t join in collective climate actions (or other kinds) because it looks like work. And it’s advertised like work. You read things, you go somewhere to get more things to read like pamphlets and reports, you listen to very smart people talk about stuff that uses aContinue reading “the dance party at the end of the universe”
A Citizen Mandate Letter
Ann is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me on the internet. We met online in the early days of our mom blogging adventures, about (OMG) fifteen years ago. Over the years we’ve participated in panels together, Frances and I have spent wonderful weekends at her cottage, we’ve met up for dinnerContinue reading “A Citizen Mandate Letter”