Looking Back to Look Forward
One year ago, I launched The Cynical Environmentalist here on Substack. My initial goal was “to question the effectiveness of the environmental movement as a whole, to keep coming back to how we can take real action that benefits both people and the planet, and hopefully become a little less cynical.” 12 months and 55 posts later, I’m still criticizing the environmental movement and I actually have become less cynical. I believe even more deeply in the change that is possible to ensure justice and liberation for all people while saving the planet.
When I started sharing my musings a year ago, I did not know about Project 2025 nor did I think we would be living the reality of a second Trump presidency today. I believe in meeting the moment, and over the last twelve months I found myself sharing more about the 2024 Presidential Election than I ever realized I would – including writing a seven-part series on the environmental impacts of Project 2025 and sharing my own personal feelings and experiences with the election results.
On Earth Day 2024, I never anticipated that I would be sitting here on Earth Day 2025 living as part of the resistance to preserve democracy. Yet, here we are. I have celebrated Earth Day for decades and today is unlike any other Earth Day I have experienced. It is a day filled with cultivating the resilience needed to be in the work with others to preserve democracy, so we can continue moving towards a world with justice and liberation for all people while protecting the planet. Earth Day to me has always been about service and doing things that are good for the planet, and that includes standing up for human rights and preserving equality and justice. Today, I will balance the many things that are needed to keep moving towards a world that I know many of us believe in and that includes taking time for myself, spending time in the garden, engaging in acts of resistance like calling my Members of Congress, and checking in with my people as we plan our next ways to save the planet while saving democracy and also saving ourselves.
It’s a lot to carry. It can be a lot to hold. Yet there has always been and always will be hope. It is always there, whether or not we choose to see it. It is in these irises that have been growing the last few weeks and were covered in a spring snow, and will continue to grow and will produce flowers soon. It is in the birds like the Chihuahuan ravens who have been gathering sticks for their nest and will soon bring new life into the world. It is in the desert cottontails who have nested under one of the goat shelters and whose babies now run through the yard that used to be filled with goats. It is in the thousands that have been taking to the streets to protect the Constitution and reject the idea of facism in this country. That hope exists and it’s in you and in me. It’s up to us to find it, see it, and let it keep growing.
Looking ahead, there is still so much to share. At the beginning of this year, I began a multi-part series called Outdoor Equity: How can we achieve it if we can’t even define it? (Part One: Why is shared understanding important and why is outdoor equity important to me?, Part Two: How do people currently define outdoor equity?, Part Three: Who can benefit from outdoor equity?) It’s a topic I’ve been thinking about and exploring with many others for years. I already have the next four parts written, but have delayed releasing them due to addressing the constant onslaught of attacks by the current president. It felt more important these last three months to focus on supporting others in taking action in the resistance. Moving forward, I will be focusing on continued support to preserve democracy while also sharing more thoughts on the environment and releasing the rest of this series on outdoor equity.
Your guess is as good as mine as to what the next year will bring, but I can promise this: I have said many times in my posts over the last year that we are the ones that must save us; that is the truth of what I see and know, and I will continue to remind us all that we have power and it is up to us to use it and use it wisely.
Lastly, I would like to thank all of you who have been reading and sharing these posts with others who resonate with these ideas, thoughts, and actions. I am especially appreciative of all of those who selected paid subscriptions as both yearly subscribers and founding members. I make all of my posts free and encourage people to share with others; those who have been generous with purchasing a paid subscription have given me great incentive to keep writing even during the weeks that were disproportionately hard. To keep the trolls at bay, I only allow comments from those with paid subscriptions. If you have benefitted from any of these writings please consider a yearly subscription which is only $50/year. Thank you!