Very beautifully written. A very important topic. It is a tragedy that we came to such a pass that essays like this had to be written. And it is a compounded tragedy that so few of our eight billion will ever get to read it. Or if reading it, heed it.
The glaciers will melt, the seas will rise, the weather will change, the trees will burn, the species will disappear, and we? We will remain bewitched by our dreams of power and sovereignty and be reduced to witnesses of what we wrought.
Thank you, Michael. As always, you respond with empathy, poetry and grace. Let's hope that essays and responses like these push outward in larger and larger circles.
Oh, thank you so much for linking to my piece on Montana, Scotland, and water, Jason. I felt like I was fumbling about a bit in there, feeling things that were a little too unwieldy to get at. But I really want to help people see the links between all of these forces -- as you do here, too.
I never read "The Road" because I just didn't want to subject myself to something quite that depressing, though I do in general like post-apocalyptic, speculative fiction (not least of which is Octavia Butler's "The Parable of the Sower," which I love but can hardly get through sometimes because it's so dire and true!).
It's interesting reading your thoughts, which are so vital, because I just finished Waubgeshig Rice's "Moon of the Turning Leaves," his sequel to "Moon of the Crusted Snow." When the first book came out he did interviews talking about how important it is for more Indigenous peoples' stories about apocalypse to be told and heard--both fiction and nonfiction, because most Indigenous people have already *been* through apocalypse: 98% population loss in many cases, completely changed and unfamiliar environment, food sources wiped out, etc.
These books are less bleak than a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction I've read. Not idealistic, but showing a community whose ethos rejects individuality and individual survival when they come at the cost of the community. I don't want to give too much away, but I do think they're both worth reading. A different perspective, but also they're really good stories!
Thanks for all this, Nia. I might add these books to my pile, since I find myself these days more likely to dig into fiction than another big and beautiful nonfiction tome... As for The Road, the main thing to recommend it is the writing, which is exquisite (in a painful way). While the narrative details are haunting, it's the feel of the story that stays with me. I don't think you need to put it on your pile. Lots of other things to be haunted by...
As for your essay, I like when our fumbling leads to good places, don't you?
Excellent writing Jason. 👏 Glad to have discovered your publication.
If we are awake and paying attention to the world around us, the emotion we might be feeling is "dread". I'm writing an essay about that in an attempt to avoid sinking too deeply into that emotion which can be paralyzing.
Thank you, Baird. I often feel that environmental dread and motivation and optimism are on a spectrum that resemble the so-called stages of grief, which as many have observed are really more like a tangle of fishing line than a straight line.
Very beautifully written. A very important topic. It is a tragedy that we came to such a pass that essays like this had to be written. And it is a compounded tragedy that so few of our eight billion will ever get to read it. Or if reading it, heed it.
The glaciers will melt, the seas will rise, the weather will change, the trees will burn, the species will disappear, and we? We will remain bewitched by our dreams of power and sovereignty and be reduced to witnesses of what we wrought.
Thank you, Michael. As always, you respond with empathy, poetry and grace. Let's hope that essays and responses like these push outward in larger and larger circles.
Oh, thank you so much for linking to my piece on Montana, Scotland, and water, Jason. I felt like I was fumbling about a bit in there, feeling things that were a little too unwieldy to get at. But I really want to help people see the links between all of these forces -- as you do here, too.
I never read "The Road" because I just didn't want to subject myself to something quite that depressing, though I do in general like post-apocalyptic, speculative fiction (not least of which is Octavia Butler's "The Parable of the Sower," which I love but can hardly get through sometimes because it's so dire and true!).
It's interesting reading your thoughts, which are so vital, because I just finished Waubgeshig Rice's "Moon of the Turning Leaves," his sequel to "Moon of the Crusted Snow." When the first book came out he did interviews talking about how important it is for more Indigenous peoples' stories about apocalypse to be told and heard--both fiction and nonfiction, because most Indigenous people have already *been* through apocalypse: 98% population loss in many cases, completely changed and unfamiliar environment, food sources wiped out, etc.
These books are less bleak than a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction I've read. Not idealistic, but showing a community whose ethos rejects individuality and individual survival when they come at the cost of the community. I don't want to give too much away, but I do think they're both worth reading. A different perspective, but also they're really good stories!
Thanks for all this, Nia. I might add these books to my pile, since I find myself these days more likely to dig into fiction than another big and beautiful nonfiction tome... As for The Road, the main thing to recommend it is the writing, which is exquisite (in a painful way). While the narrative details are haunting, it's the feel of the story that stays with me. I don't think you need to put it on your pile. Lots of other things to be haunted by...
As for your essay, I like when our fumbling leads to good places, don't you?
Excellent writing Jason. 👏 Glad to have discovered your publication.
If we are awake and paying attention to the world around us, the emotion we might be feeling is "dread". I'm writing an essay about that in an attempt to avoid sinking too deeply into that emotion which can be paralyzing.
Thank you, Baird. I often feel that environmental dread and motivation and optimism are on a spectrum that resemble the so-called stages of grief, which as many have observed are really more like a tangle of fishing line than a straight line.