This June we were in Gaspesie (Quebec), an area known for its mountains and views of the sea where whales and seals can be spotted from the shore. While there, we spent two days in some of the worst smog I have ever experienced, far from where the forest fires were burning and where others were feeling it much more intensely. Another stark reminder that climate change is here and affects us all.
It seems to me there are three possible trajectories for we humans in these times.
- Do nothing. Live our lives. Hope for the best and maybe plan for the worst.
- Blow it up. Follow the many in power who seem to be fast-tracking the destruction of life on this planet. Push for the worst and hope for an afterlife or another livable planet nearby.
- Try to fix it. Embrace this planet and all the wonderful and terrible people on it. Work to change our practices however and wherever we can. Find ways we can all continue to live on this great green and blue earth without destroying the air, water and food sources that sustain us.
I choose #3 and hope you do as well.
Tomorrow, June 21, is the summer solstice and Canada’s National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada. So, it seems timely to share what I believe is timeless wisdom from Sam Metcalfe, an Inuit quoted when speaking to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in 1995: “The land and sea have no boundaries. It is not mine and it is not yours. The Supreme Being put it here and did not give it to us. We were put there to be part of it and share it with other beings, the birds, fish, animals and plants” (from ICT’s resources).
There is hope and purpose in believing a better world is possible if we embrace our interdependence – on each other and on this planet – and reject notions of separateness and supremacy.
As suggested by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor in 2025: “Perhaps what is needed is a modern-day … commitment to the right to the hereness of this particular ailing planet, to these frail bodies, to the right to live in dignity wherever on the planet we are, even when the inevitable shocks forces us to move”.