This isn’t going to be the most cheerful roundtable, so if that sounds like something you cannot deal with right now, this is the time to opt out! Right here, this sentence, this is your chance. This roundtable is also not here to convince anyone of the facts of climate change. There are numerous sources that confirm climate change is accelerating and which detail its potential effects such as this guide from NASA, or this detailed report out of the EU. Autostraddle published a two-part series on climate change resilience by Caroline Contillo in 2017 that holds up really well! Now, I’m not a climate scientist (or even a scientist) and I can’t tell you how fast certain effects of climate change will be upon us, nor can anyone predict the exact trajectory that various increased threats to human wellbeing due to climate change will take, but we can see it all around us, in hurricanes, mudslides, fires and new or more prevalent diseases. Again, I encourage you to do your own research, but, here, we’re going to talk specifically about our personal outlooks on climate change and how we as individual humans are coping. My goal here is that you will, I hope, find parts of what we say that resonate with you, and that you’ll take advantage of the comment section to share.
I really want to know how you’re coping — or not. Above all, I want you to know that you’re not alone in this. We are all, quite literally, in this, on this planet together. The way we’re going to get through this is together.
Lastly, I want to make sure that — though this will be a sensitive topic for I am sure literally every person reading this — we keep the comments section as kind and open and generous as possible. We are going to practice giving each other the benefit of the doubt, here! This isn’t normally reserved for other places of the internet, I know, but here, I think we should be able to swing it. Thank you for being here, thank you if you share, thank you if you’re an expert in this area and you want to bring any info to share, thank you if you just read and choose to process by yourself and not share right now. Both are very valid, and also, hey, you’ve got this.
Love,
Nicole
