of space. And looking back, we can
see how we are changing our planet.
It is a beautiful, fragile place--
worthy of protection.
from We Are Better Together
written by Bill McKibben
illustrated by Stevie Lewis
GoodwinBooks/Henry Holt and Company, 2022
Before my grandparents left Eastern Europe’s pogroms, my grandfather was a farmer. Baba (we called my dad’s mom) was a gardener.
They left terror and chaos behind for the chance to find peace in a new land.
Grampy worked hard to start his own business. Baba worked hard to sew her garden.
“You could make a broom handle grow!” Mom would tell her with a mixture of awe and admiration.
When Grampy finished work one long, hard day, he was flabbergasted to find the portulacas. Baba had planted them in the grassy strip between the gravel tire paths in their driveway. He had thought the yard was already full.
But no. Now every square inch of her yard was a garden. Flowers in the front yard. Vegetables and two fruit trees in the back.
I’m sure Baba did not think she was performing Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) when she tended her bountiful gardens.
No one person can solve the complexities caused by decades of human greed, ignorance, and 400.3 million metric tons of plastic.
Repairing the world is a monumental task.
But the peace Baba found in her gardens radiated out to all she touched. Including me.
Most of the time, I feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of repairing even a small piece of our Earth.
Where can one person begin? My solar panels and hybrid car, my compost bin, and the gallon of shower-water I save every day for my plants, my recycling efforts, especially those, I do to soothe myself.
People working alone cannot get the job done. Even working with Gd, and by that I mean trying my best to make good decisions and following through with action, still seems like too little, too late. Most of the time.
Then last week, I read a quote by Angela Davis in What if We Get it Right?: Visions of Climate Futures. (Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. One World/Random House, 2024.) “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.”
I’m learning about organizations that already exist to push back on the forces that exacerbate our Climate Catastrophe. Citizens Climate Lobby is non-partisan, but as it states on its website, “[CCL]..works to create the political will for a livable world…” I joined our Ohio chapter a couple of years ago.
President Biden and VP Kamala Harris launched the American Climate Corps in September 2023. As of April 2024, thirteen states have created their own state-level Corps. Here's the list.
From its webpage, “[t]he American Climate Corps will mobilize a new, diverse generation of more than 20,000 Americans…[and create] pathways to high-quality, good-paying clean energy and climate resilience jobs in the public and private sectors after they complete their paid training program." Similar to FDR’s projects in his “New Deal” and JFK’s Peace Corps, the American Climate Corps mobilizes a new generation.
New generation? Definitely not me. Then, when I was looking for a book to provide a quote to open this post, I found Bill McKibben’s book. We Are Better Together. It’s addressed to kids, but when I looked just a tiny bit deeper, I discovered that Bill McKibben started Th!rd Act, an organized group of people who have grown up, finished working in their chosen career, and are now in their own third act. Here's what Th!rd Act has to say: “Our seasoned generation holds unparalleled power to enact real change. Using our life experiences, skills, and resources, we unite to tackle the unfinished work of our lifetimes and ensure a safe and stable planet for generations to come.”
In 2008, Bill McKibben, along with a group of university friends, founded 360.org. It has since grown to include working groups in almost every country in the world. From their website, “[our] work leverages people-power to dismantle the influence and infrastructure of the fossil fuel industry, and to develop people-centric solutions to the climate crisis.”
I did not inherit Earth-wisdom from my grandparents, only the love of working with nature and enjoying its beauty and looking for peace.
Political activist Simon Rosenberg, reminds us, “do more, worry less.” But Earth does not play politics. She depends on us to help her survive.
I have not come to the end of The Goldfinch (Donna Tartt, Little, Brown and Company, 2013), but I’m close enough to give you a summary. When Theo Decker’s mother is killed by a bomb set off in an art museum in New York, he’s left to fend for himself. Circumstances take him to Las Vegas and back on a cross-country trip that mires him in the underground art world. Recommended. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2014.
In case you are wondering, Theo’s mother’s favorite painting, “The Goldfinch” is a real painting. Art historians believe it survived its own explosion in 1654, which killed its artist, Dutch painter Carel Fabritius.
-—Be curious! (and do a little good)