Voices for climate

I felt buoyant this afternoon. I cranked up Havanah meets Kingston and danced around my lounge room, feeling like change was possible. Change in myself and global change.

This lightness came through a kitchen table conversation about acting on climate change. With a group of six friends I permitted myself to re-imagine the future. Stunning to have a climate conversation that left me feeling calm and happy after two decades of these conversations cranking up my adrenaline and anxiety levels.

 My kitchen gathering was organised to be an outlet valve for the internal pressure that builds when we read, hear or watch news about future climate projections.

When the meeting started, we each admitted overwhelm and how this overwhelm has lead us to paralysis.

There are too many fights to fight and life is full. So, we stifle our feelings in the day and we lie awake at night in dread. We each have a million strategies to dull our anxiety. We focus our attention on the things we can influence in our personal spheres: home, work, food, family, health….. But we can’t stop the news rolling in.

In my own life I juggle as fast and deftly as I can to keep family, work, relationships and commitments flowing smoothly. I’ve had a deep sense that another ball in the air would stop the show.

But in the last months I realised my internal pressure about climate change is not healthy and that time is getting way too short for me to keep juggling, business-as-usual. I realised I don’t have to juggle friends, community, creativity and climate action as separate entities. Integrating these makes climate action enriching and energising.

 At the heart of why this kitchen conversation left me feeling so good was that the meeting was group of like-minded friends who wanted to support each other to act on climate change. We all want to find a way to act that celebrates our different skills, builds our friendships and grows our sense of community. I realise now that by gathering with friends to talk and act on climate change, makes life more precious and hopeful.