View from the ship: heading out to the open waters of the Drake Passage
As we traverse the notoriously rough Drake Passage this morning, we know the water is unusually smooth. It allows us to acquire our sea legs gradually, learning the shifting and swaying dance the ocean requires of us. Outside is a monochromatic panorama of dark blue ocean and gray and white sky, both as far as the eye can see.
We are heading to Antarctica, a land of superlatives – it is the windiest, coldest, driest continent – and now one of the fastest warming places on the planet. So it’s a fitting juncture to think about how we, as human beings, react to the news that we are changing this planet.
We have just listened to an inspiring talk from Jill Bolte-Taylor, who speaks of tending the garden of the mind. Jill says, “I care about the climate crisis because I care about mental health.”
She sees the climate crisis as a projection of our mental health. “If we can help shift our society to being more in the present and focusing on the relationship between things,” she says, “then we can communicate at a different level and work toward solutions.”
In short, we have a choice. To live in fear and denial or to choose optimism and affirmation. We have a choice every minute and every day. Over and over again. Too easily we forget this and toss these moments away. But when we drift off, we can come back to this place of optimism.
Just as we have a choice in framing our mind’s attitudes and reactions, we have a choice about how we react to the climate crisis. When we speak of the urgency of the crisis, the hope is to motivate people toward positive action.
It’s a challenge to us all. We walk away from Jill’s talk energized and aspirational, optimistic that we can and will take on this challenge in the way we must: moving ahead, embracing progress, and building a more sustainable way of thinking and living.
Warren Williams
January 30th
Good luck with your expedition, to witness first hand the destruction of Antarctica. Let’s hope your trip brings more awareness to the masses – more large corporates and countries to start taking action immediately.
William P Gloege
January 31st
Optimism can also be an opiate. Any realistic mind admits CO2 will never be curbed. Time to plan for saving at least some of humanity by migration.
Or we can continue our brand of Denial Lite – preaching that we will somehow curb emissions.
Change the game plan now, or suffer uncontrolled chaos and a Mad Max world in which 100 percent of humans may die.
Eliza Linley
February 1st
Optimism can indeed be an opiate. So let’s think rather in terms of hope, against the background of knowledge that we all die, and the earth will survive. Why not spend the time we have making a difference in ways that make our lives meaningful?
William P Gloege
February 1st
Hope is important as long as it does not stifle pursuing our only real option regarding global warming – planning orderly migration.
You rightly say we all die. But do you care about humanity as a whole? Or just yourself and your contentment?
I would like human beings, our best inventions, values, art and music to live on after I’m gone. For this to happen we need to get brutally honest and say goodbye to the wishful thinking that CO2 emissions can be curbed.
Regards,
William
Susan
February 3rd
There sure are a lot of pesty pessimists out there! Is there a place gathering data of new, renewable energy projects and how much energy they are/will produce vs. the energy needs of today and the future? This would be a positive view of where we are, where we need to be, and what’s being done to get there. I envision a view of new technology replacing the old.
David C. Greene
February 6th
The expedition of Branson, Gore and Hansen to the northern part of Antarctica may well find that the region around the west Antarctic peninsula to be relatively warm – it is after all the middle of summer there. They will be gathering no new data of significance. They will be generating much publicity for their cause. In doing so they will be much more comfortable than were those who conducted the similar “Row to the (north) Pole” excursion.