Environmentalists Anonymous-Day 16
12/13/23
We have arrived at the winter solstice! Thank you for following along, during this first year of our in-person and virtual writing group. We have been meeting every other week at Village Books and will continue to meet into the new year at a new time (see below for details). Our topics have ventured from forest fires to the beauty of homegrown food and I appreciate the creativity and vulnerability people bring to this group.
I will continue to share our prompts on here and via email. If there is enough interest, I may form a ZOOM group as well.
This week we started by discussing the recent UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai. Although the agreement they finally reached signaled the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era, there were a lot of conflicting reports that came out of this annual event which ran from Nov 30 to Dec 12.
As a warm-up writing exercise, what COP28 news stories, quotes, or headlines caught your eye and why?
I was struck by the addition of a Faith Pavilion to the event. A place for people to collectively grieve or host educational and interfaith sessions. These videos highlight some of the spiritual leaders making a call for climate action.
Next, we discussed Take Heart : Encouragement for Earth’s Weary Lovers (OSU Press, 2022) by Kathleen Dean Moore with illustrations by Bob Haverluck.
Earth’s weary lovers are tired, perplexed, and battered from all directions. Their hearts have so often been broken. It’s hard to go on, but it is morally impossible to quit. How do Earth’s protectors find the heart to continue the struggle?
To this question, environmental philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore and Canadian artist Bob Haverluck bring twenty-two life-affirming essays and drawings. Their entwined art offers pluck, stubborn resolve, and even some laughter to those who have for years been working for environmental sanity, social justice, and ecological thriving.
This book of poetic vignettes felt like a good place to end our year of discussing and writing about a wide-range of difficult and complex environmental issues. I have always found a lot of light and hope in Kathleen Dean Moore’s work. Here is an excerpt published in resiliance.org.
Writing Prompt:
The 22 chapter titles in this book are themselves instructional and I offer 5 of these as a writing prompt.
Do you consider yourself one of Earth’s weary lovers?
What does it mean to:
Take a stand
Know you are not alone
Open yourself to deep change
Let your heart break open
Be Earth’s Ally
OR what does it mean to you to take heart?
Write a short essay or poem in response to one or all of these questions. Try to write for at least 30 minutes. If you have something to share from this prompt, please send it to me by January 6th. I would love to share in a future post.
Our next in-person meeting is JANUARY 10th from 10:30-11:30 pm at Village Books. All are welcome.
December 13th was our LAST meeting of 2023.
NO MEETING December 27th.
We will continue to meet in the Readings Gallery in 2024. This is located on the bottom floor of Village Books.
Environmentalist Anonymous meets the 2nd and 4th Wednesday at Village Books at 10:30 am in the Readings Gallery. This is free and open to the public. I will email a synopsis of our gathering and post on my Substack page, Her Deepest Ecologies, for easier access (no subscription required to see writing group updates).
