By K.P. Mauros

I don’t know if you realize this, but life under the 45th President has been for a lack of a better term, stressful. Sure it’s not enough that his policies stab at my core with existential dread like when he imprisons and separates Central American families, threatens to open up the Arctic Natural Wildlife Reserve to oil drilling, and completely beefing the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.  Its hard not to feel like he and his follower’s position is to give me stress, and that’s pretty much their end goal. In a piece written in the Atlantic entitled “Cruelty is the Point”, Adam Serwer writes;

“It is not just that the perpetrators of this cruelty enjoy it; it is that they enjoy it with one another. Their shared laughter at the suffering of others is an adhesive that binds them to one another, and to Trump.”

For the first time in my privileged life, I am experiencing what many have felt all along, that the dominant power structure not only wants me held down, but to suffer in the process. Everyday we are bombarded by new acts of cruelty and ignorance buttressed by a media punditry focused on normalizing this new reality we are in. Giving a simple shrug of “business as usual” when in actuality their hair should be on fire every single day. It is maddening to feel like no one gets how serious a threat it is to psychologically condition our country to think of one half as an enemy, and having the government reflect that sentiment with policy.

That’s why oddly enough it has been those people on the margins who have finally been given a platform that have been great for my sanity. There are multiple men and women of color who have in the course of the last election been given the platform to speak against power. In response, the counterculture and purveyors of the status quo try to shout as loud as they can to muffle out this threat to their privilege. Through years of marginalization and oppression these figures have developed a fitness of mind and discourse that I can only aspire to, as they are able to not only stand poised against such rhetoric, but respond in a way that is dignified in the face of indignity. One such leader is the freshman Representative from the 14th District of New York Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Fighting the “Boot-Straps” Mythology.

While this might reveal my age (Early 30’s) I am one of the lucky group of new graduates that entered the workforce at the time of the housing market crash, and the subsequent economic recession. In that time as a Millennial I was told to “stop buying certain things”, “aim to get out of my parents basement”, “stop being entitled and too into technology”, an age based interpretation of the “boot-straps mythology”. It has been frustrating to be both hit by student loan debt, and receive zero job prospects out of college with the option to take close to minimum wage or no-pay internships. It’s one thing to be hit hard by a system that takes advantage of new graduates, but its another to be seen as lazy and entitled while doing so. Because of the pernicious power of this mythology (and yes it is pure mythology) that I have kept my mouth shut to people I know. Because aside from people my age the society at large gave this new economic reality a collective large shrug. It has been refreshing when Representative Ocasio-Cortez gave an interview with Time Magazine ;

“There’s always this talk of division with the Democratic Party…or this Progressive Wing…or ideological differences. But I actually think there are generational differences.

Because the America we grew up in is nothing like the America our parents or grandparents grew up in. We were born after Cold War, we were literal children during the Clinton Administration, so the surplus and prosperity of the Clinton Administration flew well over our heads.”

AOC is not a Representative that plug and play uses the “son/daughter of a lower class parent success story”, what Stephen Colbert humorously coined “son of a turd miner. Both Democratic and Republican leaders bend over backwards to share how they are indicative of the American dream of hard work leading to prosperity. AOC frames the actual reality of children of working class families.  Success is highly contained to your original status at birth with limited to now mobility upward, that hard work alone has not been indicative of success, and you are one emergency or crisis away from falling into the spiral of wealth insecurity. She talks about being a waitress not to say how she worked hard and you too can be a Representative, but to highlight how hard it is to find mobility and stability in the modern era, including how it took her getting into congress to get healthcare. It is refreshing to hear that her story has similarities to mine and it makes one not feel so alone. On a side note: I have written about generational devaluing in my first piece with DailyKos

The Power of Stating it Plain

As Progressives the easiest thing for us to do is support our opinions and positions with well sourced and fact based. The hardest thing of course is declaring that we actually want something. It seems counterproductive, but conservative circles have successfully framed Liberal and Progressive Policies as fantastical and socialist. In response we have been conditioned to need a high burden of proof to state what we want. Conservatives can simply say “I don’t want socialism” while liberals have to say “according to the INDEPENDENT Congressional Budget Office, and noticing trends of economic data from a variety of sources”. It’s rage inducing to have to hold onto that double standard to want to push forward. So it has been valuable to hear leadership declaring and demanding change plainly

At a town hall with Chris Hayes, Representative Ocasio-Cortez, she states plainly the reason why the Green New Deal is so important.

Exxon/Mobil knew that climate change was real and man made since the 1970’s the government knew it was real and human made in 1989 the year I was born. So the initial response was “let the market handle it, they will do it”. 40 years and free market solutions have not changed our position. It doesn’t mean we need to change our entire government, but it means that we have to do something.

Listening to her speak I notice she has a unique power. She is able to state confidently and courageously that we don’t have to wait, and play the political game that has been the norm for years just to make incremental change. That we can do things now in the present with our current realities. It is obvious to notice its efficacy because 1) people are attracted and supportive of her message and 2) The conservative resistance has been working tirelessly (and frantically) to silence the power of this plainly stated goal.

We aren’t the Resistance Conservatives in Power are:

While it is important to rally like minded resistance to the powerful actors in the Conservative Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, It is also important to know how unpopular their opinions are, and how they do not reflect the movement of society towards a better future. The United States is (thankfully) becoming more diverse. We also see a trend that Millennials and Gen Z citizens are both more Progressive, and increasingly see government as a positive actor for social change. This is not because of colleges or hip hop or a factor of youth. It’s because the younger generation see that the wealthy and powerful are not to be trusted with shaping our society. A great article worth reading is Michelle Alexander’s “We Are Not the Resistance” which does a much better job of framing this idea.

In the same interview with Representative Ocasio-Cortez andChris Hayes, Bob Inglis made a comparison between Progressive wings of the Democratic Party to the Tea Party, in response Representative Ocasio-Cortez stated,

“I find the framing of the Tea Party and our movement interesting because the grounding of the Tea Party was in xenophobia, the underpinnings of White Supremacy…I understand the comparison…but the difference is our district is overwhelmingly Progressive, and our representative was not representing our position…this is not the Tea Party of the Left this is a return to representative democracy”.

The national punditry, print media, and Democratic Party in the quest to stay balanced and reasonable placated to the unreasonableness of the Republican Party, and moved our collective discussion towards moderate right policies. What was left behind were large swaths of Progressives (many within city centers) whose voice was not being elevated by their elected officials. For someone like me who stress reads the news, it is good to know that I have not been alone in worrying about this trend, and am glad someone is stating it loudly for the record

The Meaning of Leader:

I know I am preaching to the choir, that AOC is going to divide people because what she is saying is new and exciting to the Left and absolutely frightening to the Right. But I want to narrowly focus, and share a quote that really touched me in a way that no other leader has. In response to the tragically laughable presentation on climate change by Representative Mike Lee, AOC wrote on Twitter:

Like many other women + working people, I occasionally suffer from impostor syndrome: those small moments, especially on hard days, where you wonder if the haters are right. But then they do things like this to clear it right up. If this guy can be Senator, you can do anything.

Set aside the massive burn she made, I really connected with the first part the most. I personally have dealt with anxiety and stress induced depression for most of my adult life. I am fortunate enough to have a good education, family, friends, a good job, but I irrationally still have this fear of the impostor syndrome which gives me physiological responses to failure, and panic inducing fears of success. For my entire life the face of leadership has been wealthy, elite, White and male. They lead by strength and bluster, with a touch of charisma and likability. As a White Male myself, I have never been able to meet that standard set by the status quo. It has been great for my mental health to see someone in a position of power and authority who while our intersectional characteristics don’t meet, have common ground in the letdowns of the past and hopes for the future. That is the true definition of a leader, not the person for which I can have make decisions independent of me , but someone who occupies my same hopes, fears and dreams for the future, and effectively communicates them in a way I can feel active and hopeful. Thank you Representative, for at least in a small part know that you have affected one fellow citizen in a way that gives me courage to get up in the morning and fight along with you.

By: K.P. Mauros

By now everyone should be going through their own stages of frustration, grief and anger at the ending of the Mueller investigation by a handpicked Attorney General who summarized 22 months of work in 4 pages. It starts as a gut punch to the stomach. The aspirational thought that institutions would hold, and would eventually lead to something that would confirm what we are seeing with our own eyes. That the Russian government led by wealthy oligarchs interfered in the 2016 Election and that Americans helped them with it. When it doesn’t happen the wind gets knocked out of you, and you are left without breath. This feeling then transfers to your chest. The mixed emotions of wondering how institutions could fail us so badly is almost too much to hold and too oscillating in tone and intensity that it is almost panic inducing. “What is happening, I invested all this emotion into a just outcome and it hasn’t happened. It’s heartbreaking”. Similar symptoms of panic seep in, and we become incapable of acting our normal rational selves. Following that the feeling gets to the head. First as anger, “how dare someone lie to me and tell me everything is right and just when it is clearly not”. This emotion demands justice and recourse. When that doesn’t happen our sense of spirit escapes us as your willingness to fight anymore leaves your body. Then comes the immediate and undeserved shame of trusting your instincts and making a judgement based on what you see (that coupled with Conservative trolls doesn’t help). Nihilism and fear of uncertainty spread and you try to find immediate salves to quickly cure what’s bothering you. As a result, we often go to the well of information that’s supported our hopes about justice being served, we write on comment boards, facebook posts, and (maybe even internet blog posts). We hope to make sense of why things seem so unnecessarily fair. We then find no other viable option then to take time off, and distract ourselves in hobbies and hope to be refreshed to take on the next outrage. This of course is the common tract for those of us with privilege (the author included). Because for many this is the first time in which we have interfaced with issues of injustice, the intractability of the wealthy and powerful, and the feeling that those in power actively are working against you.

This time, I will plead with the reader that if this is your inclination, going into nihilism thinking “nothing matters” and that the powerful are systematically impugned in their actions. Know that this only rings true because we in positions of privilege decide to escape the uncomfortable injustice of inequality. Know that there are people out there whom this feeling isn’t just familiar, but a sadly regular state of being. Marginalized communities of color and a spectrum of gender identities and sexual preferences not only get to feel these emotions regularly, but don’t have access to the insular pockets we often use to hide away from the damages caused by regressive policies. They do not get to go to the well, because for many of them the well has been sourced by straight, cisgender, white male faces, populated by straight, cisgender, white male voices and guided by straight, cisgender, white male perspectives. In the process of coming to grips with our gaslit reality, recognize that now more than ever we together as a nation face the real possibility of authoritarian oligarchy as our government model. While most of our ire should be directed at bad actors beholden to wealth and power, some of the blame should comes from us Progressives in privilege for being bad allies.

We don’t need the Mueller report to show that the Trump Administration actively separates and jails family members from Central America escaping violence. A human rights migration which was exacerbated by our reliance on recreational drugs, our push for open border trade, and our fear of communism. We don’t need the House Judiciary Committee to recognize the spread and rise of anti-islamic bigotry in the current administration which perpetrates violence against those seen as “terrorists”. This toxic culture spread because we as allies decided to fall asleep as the country otherized nearly a quarter of the world’s population, and to this day we see trappings of it in Executive Order 13769 banning entry from countries which are predominantly Muslim. Finally it doesn’t take a special panel to recognize that for way too long,  Black citizens have been red-lined, excluded from political power, and subjugated by an over active police force, and government policies. These things are happening now in the present, and demand immediate attention from everyone including us reeling from the Barr letter to Congress. So instead of getting mad, let’s become better allies.

I am encouraged by the voices of freshman congresswomen of color entering the political discussion and demanding their issues be heard. Congresswomen like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayana Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, each of them are giving new voices to important matters, and forcing us to tackle the fact that the issues we face are systemic, pervasive, and pernicious. On March 24th, Representative Ocasio-Cortez stated on Twitter: “He can stay, he can go. He can be impeached, or voted out in 2020. But removing Trump will not remove the infrastructure of an entire party that embraced him; the dark money that funded him; the online radicalization that drummed his army; nor the racism he amplified and reanimated”. To congresswomen like Representative Ocasio-Cortez (and all people of color), governmental oversight, and institutional checks and balances have and always will be insufficient to address issues of injustice, because it becomes all too easy to ignore the underlying causes of social wrongs. We must recognize the very uncomfortable conversations we need to have with ourselves and those we love as the Representative later tweeted: “In order for us to heal as a nation, we ALL must pursue the hard work of addressing these root causes.It’s not as easy as voting. It means having uncomfortable moments convos w/ loved ones, w/ media, w/ those we disagree, and yes – within our own party, too.It’s on all of us.”

I agree. We people of privilege need to step up and step back. We need to recognize that while miffed by the actions of the current President, those of us in positions of privilege are not front line communities to his policies. While we find comfort in feeling oppressed by the current administration, we are instead insulating ourselves from the disparity caused by persistent and cruel attacks on human decency. Donald Trump and the Republican resistance to progress is not a cause, but a symptom of not just an active push back to changing demographics and attitudes, but also equal parts complacency on the part of those allies whom find comfort in escapism. While we may be interested in seeing that movement to a progressive future we refuse to recognize that we aren’t receiving the brunt of the damage, and therefore our emotional losses are treated equally as those with actual trauma.

Handy lists by the Anti-Oppression Network as well as Amelie Lamont give a great summary that I think would be helpful in this regard. By stepping up and elevating the voices of those often unheard, and stepping back by allowing their messages to gain access to the fore, we grow stronger as a movement and as citizens. If we as Progressives truly harness the power of collective voice, we may be able to undo the damages caused by the current administration, but the hard work comes in allowing yourself to simply be in the supportive role. We must understand that there can be no Progressive future without justice, and there can be no justice if equality is not valued as a central component of our actions. Your privilege can be powerful and important if used in the right way, so let’s make sure we use our power wisely.

By K.P. Mauros

Speaking at a “West India Emancipation” event in Canandaigua New York, Frederick Douglass gave a speech against slavery and the returning of slaves to their masters once they escaped from the South. In that speech he stated clearly and pointedly, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”. While I don’t feel I have the experiential provenance to carry the weight of such words even out of its original context, it is important to learn from this line that any and every injustice of the world begins and ends with power. So, when bearing witness to the massacres that happened in Parkland, Las Vegas, and Orlando, , and New Zealand amongst the multitude that have occurred previously and undoubtedly will happen in the future, it is important that our country make its demands clear to the power structures in a way that is clear and concise. In all, we must demand the complete abolishment of the Second Amendment.

This demand should not be made to be salacious or controversial, it should be made in a way to begin rectifying the ahistorical nature of the Second Amendment, its inability to allow nuance into conversations around gun violence, and most importantly the discursive reasons we as a nation even need to codify gun ownership in our Bill of Rights. Before anyone in favor of the Second Amendment believes that I am calling for complete disarmament, trust me I don’t think that is neither possible nor prudent. However guns need to be demoted as a civil liberty to a consumer product that is simply bought and sold in this country with regulations and thresholds of competency dictated by the public. Because when we see ourselves as individual freedom islands we forget the extent to which guns affect more than just the person holding it. What gets lost in the conversation is HOW we discuss gun violence, and it is through this lens we as Americans need to begin our discussion.

If a Second Amendment advocate believes their gun is a right due to personal protection, and wish to discharge the gun in their home, then I as a neighbor of that gun owner should know full well that the person operating the gun is doing so with full competency and clarity. Because once the bullet leaves that gun, it does not carry your freedom with it. I should be able to demand that I have the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness and will not be superseded by your choice in home protection. Hunters are required in many states to stay hundreds of feet from a residential area, yet on private property they can discharge a gun without reprisal. In Parkland, the shooter (whom shall not be named by me) exercised his rights by firing his gun repeatedly outside of his home in close proximity to his neighbors, and his neighbors through lax gun laws were unable to exercise their right to safety. We must demand that, if you do not feel the weight of responsibility in discharging a weapon near other individuals and property you should not have a gun.

Hypothetically, maybe I am in a public sphere like a walmart or simply on the street, and another individual is parading around openly with an AR-15 or a pistol. What is my threshold of perceived threat that will allow me to shoot that person without repercussions. Why shouldn’t I? I see a gunman walking through a store I see violence, and need to protect myself. Or maybe you are in a darkened theater and there is a loud noise, I feel that if I do not fire now I will have lost my opportunity to defend myself. May I discharge my weapon there? Maybe I see someone getting awfully close to my person, and I need to make a split decision. Is it personally within my right to discharge then? As a civil liberty these answers are all undoubtedly in the favor of those with the gun. However as Americans we must demand that if you are unable to exist and behave in a public space without weaponry meant to kill, then you should not have a gun.

Then there are those that believe in protecting themselves from the government. This is the most egregious misrepresentation of the aim of the Second Amendment because it pushes a culture in which armed sedition is an acceptable right of American life. However those that hold these idealized perceptions around fighting the “government” need to recognize that those they will be shooting at in their portended “just” revolution will not be a non-descript individual with “the government” written across his/her chest. Those on the other side of your barrel are police officers and national guardsman. Who is right in this situation? We have never once confronted the idea that we allow violence against public servants in the name of freedom and liberty. So we should demand (and especially if you claim you “support our troops” and “Blue Lives Matter”) that if you are comfortable with the idea that you will shoot a police officer or U.S. soldier for your right to have a weapon, and are buying guns for that eventuality then you definitely should not own a gun.

The issues surrounding conversations about gun regulations is that as a civil liberty responsible gun owners are forced to protect and side with the most dangerous individuals in the country because they have personalized ownership of a product to their liberty and freedom. By divesting the cultural connections of gun ownership towards allowing guns as a well regulated product. We may begin to have productive conversations on gun ownership. If we as a country decide that guns are nothing more than a weapon which requires scrutiny as well as training to own and operate then we can have both responsible gun ownership and a safer public environment. Let’s not become victim to the vague ideas of White male landowners who lived centuries ago. Let’s have an America for now with a Bill of Rights for the now. But, in order to do so we must demand it.

By K.P. Mauros

Over time, as you read my blog posts, some things are going to become increasingly clear. I believe deeply in the importance of social justice and social change, I am the most passionate about the environment, and I can be a huge nerd. I love video games. Growing up in a homogeneously White neighborhood with not a lot of kids in close proximity, I was left alone at times and in need of something to stimulate my ever curious brain. The outlet that best helped me get over that loneliness was video games. I know for many, video games is a thing that is  seen as increasingly violent, informs misogynistic tendencies, and frankly doesn’t invite the best of society. However in my case I like to play a lot of single player games because it nurtured my imagination for the awe inspiring tales, visuals and lore presented by these titles. Now in adulthood, I find not too many things that makes me simply relax and turn off my brain for a bit more than video games, but some trends that have existed in the past decade has made me worried.

Currently I am playing Red Dead Redemption 2, and if you like video games with amazing visuals and storytelling, I highly recommend it. However I remember while playing the first game that I was introduced to the hunting mechanic. In the game you could shoot and kill any living creature roaming the game and harvest their parts for things like bags, belts and accessories which helped with ammo capacity and damage. This was an innovative idea at the time because it meant that if you wanted to get an advantage, or advance with the increasing difficulty of the game, you would have to seek out and retrieve the resources necessary to support it. It was a nice novelty, but being a copycat industry other games followed suit. Games like Far Cry, Horizon Zero Dawn, Monster Hunter, Legend of Zelda, and other great franchises prioritized hunting as a means of getting better. For a time I was having fun with it until it started getting old and I was seeing how little the games felt of the wildlife that they were elements only included to get slaughtered. Take Far Cry 4 for example. There is a mission questline called “Kyrat Fashion Week” which centers around helping an exiled, flamboyant, royal stylist precure only the most “exquisite of materials” to help you craft legendary items. In each case you had to hunt down rare endangered species like rhinos and white snow leopards, and in return you are able to carry 4 extra grenades in some cases. I am a completionist, and I just didn’t feel like doing it. It was silly to devalue (even if its electronic) wildlife so much for such little reward that it was the only thing I didn’t end up doing. In RDR2 the same thing, you can kill “legendary animals” for the sake of benefits which frankly by the end of the game I didn’t need. One instance asked you to hunt a large albino moose for no other reason than it was there. It got on my nerves so much that I just quit that section, and frankly it made the game less fun for me.

However in the process of skinning my sixth rabbit or so, I reminisced about a game that did things differently. A game that added stakes and consequence to actions taken by the player. That game was 2005’s Shadow of the Colossus. In the game in order to bring back to life your deceased love interest the game tasked you with killing sixteen rock/beast hybrid giants known as colossi. There was no other objectives in the game besides find colossi, kill colossi, repeat. Each time you entered into the realm of one of the colossi, I would be taken aback by the scale and threat imposed by the game. The first colossi proved to be a real challenge, and I really enjoyed the toil it took to take one down, but with each victory came a bittersweet feedback brought by the game’s ambiance. The music was sad and depressing, the beast flailing about in misery. No fanfare no fist pump, just the realization that for your own selfish means this ancient beast had to die. In some cases the creatures would attack you viciously on sight, sometimes you had to provoke it to come after you. Progressively each colossi followed the same pattern, until you reached the 13th colossi, which was one of the biggest in the game. The creature was a flying beast which you needed your horse to complete. As you punctured its air sacs lowering it to the ground so that I could reach its vital points, I noticed one thing was odd about this fight. It wasn’t attacking me back. No matter how much I hurt it it never once did anything besides try to shake me off, and it was then that I realized that I wasn’t the hero in this story, but it’s villain.

::Spoiler Alert::

By the last colossi, you get everything you’ve ever hoped for, and revive your lost love, but not without consequence. The colossus were actually living totems kept in place to scatter the spirit of a great evil known as Dormin, and now that you have killed them there was nothing left to hold it back. This was a genius level of storytelling, and one that I think is worth talking about when it comes to how we value life in the environment. For years we have seen nature both as the virgin landscape of exploration and wonder for us to express freedom, and also a threat with wilderness having ample ways to hurt or kill us. In both cases we either appreciate or fear it in equal measures by destroying it, and in the never ending quest for self-fulfillment we continue until there is no more left to enjoy. We see it in equal measures by those who exploit natural resources for financial greed, or in personal recreation. We do it because we keep nature at a distance, and only wish to add to it when we need something from it. Instead of leaving well enough alone we as a species need so much to interact with this space of ours because we are scared of what our lives would be like without it, and pretend that in essence we don’t need it. We are so afraid of our vulnerabilities and mortality that nature becomes the scapegoat to our insecurities. This game made you feel small, and inconsequential even though you are supposed to be the hero. That is why I have never been so pleased with the feeling of emptiness I felt as the credits rolled for this game. Finally a game that supported the idea of life being more important than want, and for that I am severely grateful. I hope future games can explore this message some more, but unfortunately the trend in gaming has always been explore, collect, grow and defeat. I await the next game that challenges those dynamics, and engages a new set of youth for the better.

by K.P. Mauros

I like many people my age live in a world of perpetual uncertainty and anxiety. I think about how I can afford bills, if I’m doing well at work, if I’m doing enough to make a difference. All this is paired with financial, interpersonal, and professional responsibilities that knock on the door of my active conscience. For many people the respite they seek comes in associating good emotions with past-times. Some participate or watch sports for a sense of camaraderie, some enjoy social media for connection with other people, and others enjoy just being alone to digest their thoughts. My ultimate respite has always been to simply go outside. A light breeze flowing through the leaves in trees always made life simple enough to take a breather and relax. A babbling brooks’ consistent trickle and pour reminds me of the consistent within the chaos. Nature was the one constant that kept my head above water, and into a place where I can function in a normal society. However over the last decade it has been a reminder of loss, and mourning.

Climate change is happening now. I don’t believe that, I know it to be true based on scientific evidence from an overwhelming majority of scientists who are experts in their field. I also viscerally feel it in my bones as it slowly makes its presence known. A warm day in February in New England starts figuratively tapping on my window, a flash flood in a suburban street begins jiggling of the door knob, and a 100 year level hurricane decimating an entire city smashes the window and opens the lock. When all is said and done, I hope in my time that I have played my part well enough to change things, but in my myopic quest towards professional and personal fulfillment I have not sufficiently fought hard enough for those things that have always been there for me. In my failures I hope to mourn those things that are lost forever, those things I will miss. That is why in the age of social media, I would like to start a hashtag #whatIwillmiss.

Let me introduce you to the Eastern Cougar. As of last week this subspecies of animal has gone extinct. I find it fairly cute in an almost threatening way. It doesn’t pay my taxes, put food on my family’s table, nor does it really have an effect on my daily life, but I will miss it. I don’t value it because of some benefit it gives me or ecological importance (which there is many). I will miss it because it was alive, in my time, and I appreciate that I shared the Earth with it. It saddens me to think that if my children or grandchildren should I be so lucky wish to see it, I can only explain its coat, color, its majesty in photos and video. They will only get to understand it through humanity’s poor recollection and that depresses me. The same holds true for the Caspian Tiger, the Caribbean Monk Seal, and even insects like the Rocky Mountain Locust. I appreciate that I shared space and time with marvels of evolution that through millenia carved a niche for themselves, and were wiped clean off the planet, but for no other reason than humanity’s three greatest sins; Ignorance, Hubris, and Greed.

If you are not much of a wildlife fan, let me relate a story told by one of my college professors who was from Canada and enjoyed time at the Rideau skateway. The longest naturally occurring ice rink in the world. She regaled times of joy spent with family and friends, and how in the next 30 years will lose most of it due to increasing global temperatures. She paused in her fond recollection, and in that moment through a subtle smirk, I could see her true reverence for something she held so dear going away forever. It was there that I felt the importance of the issue, because I can sympathize in her loss. I’m sure for you the reader, there is something that you hold dear at risk as well.

That is why I think one of the ways we think of climate change should be of loss. Because it is a reminder of one of the greatest failures of the Climate Movement. We refuse to acknowledge that there is a failure option. It is very possible that we could lose this fight, and while it may not cause armageddon, it will still cause changes that will make life difficult, and ruin what we once valued. It is possible that the things we take for granted will never come back, and when the time comes to appreciate them, they will exist as ghosts of our past. Maybe if we just take a beat to examine the true risk to each person we will find the shared humanity of our crisis, and do something about it before it’s too late. I am not a pessimist or a pragmatic realist. I am an optimist who believes that we can communicate most effectively through shared values and emotions. Because once we as a species go through our grief we can get to acceptance become convicted to hold dear what remains.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton