A Brand New (Hell)World
A few months ago, I read this book called Warmth written by New York City climate activist Daniel Sherrell. It’s a special kind of book about the climate crisis, one that ropes you in and makes you think about it long after you’ve finished. It’s interesting, because it doesn’t have a gripping story, mind-blowing theories, or even relatable characters. It doesn’t have any of the things that… y’know… usually make a book hard to put down.
Warmth is special because for a lot of young people, the emotions and overwhelming sense of uncertainty laid bare throughout the book are familiar. They’re the thoughts and feelings of a generation growing up as the world around them begins to collapse.
The consequences brought on by climate breakdown, global capitalism’s worsening crises, and the rise of authoritarianism foreshadow colossal changes within our lifetimes. While the future remains uncertain, major changes to our lifestyles, government and economy are an absolute certainty. How these changes manifest and impact our lives is up for grabs.
For the most part, our generation is aware that potentially apocalyptic changes are on their way, and Sherrell doesn’t try to retell us the details. Warmth is a special work of climate change literature because it boldly engages with what it feels like to live in the present and imagine the future given our current circumstances. It confronts a question that many of us have asked ourselves at one point or another: “How do we move forward in a world that may not?”
I’m creating this Substack because there’s a desperate need for us to talk about just living right now. About how current events affect us. What it feels like to observe these compounding crises-COVID, climate breakdown, record inequality, you name it-and just continue with our jobs and our lives as if nothing is awry. Social media is filled with discourse about this increasingly universal feeling among young people and yet, aside from the odd article about climate anxiety, there’s an absence of mainstream media coverage and in-depth conversations about this phenomenon.
I want this blog to be just that. I want to cover topics related to this feeling, and offer some commentary about moving forward, both as individuals and as a collective, to reclaim our agency.
That covers a lot of ground, so topics on this blog will be pretty wide-ranging. For a start, some future posts might discuss
· Consumption guilt
· The two, broad futures we face
· The importance of community
· Financial and personal investment
· Imperial collapse throughout history
Most topics will, in some way, follow current events. So expect to see some writing about the Great Resignation, the Antiwork movement, and Lying Flat.
As the name suggests, regardless of any specific topic I want this blogto be about hope more than anything.
These posts will hopefully let readers engage with new ideas and reclaim a little bit more agency over their present and future lives. Topics will touch upon some heavy material, and discussions about mental health are sure to arise. So, it’s important to note that I’m not a trained mental health professional- Climate-aware therapists are invaluable resources we can use to help work through our feelings about the future. Like most of my future readers, I’m a regular person who wants to build a better world.
I hope you’ll follow along on this journey, and learn with me as we navigate our lives in today’s world.
Originally published at https://highhopesfromhell.substack.com on December 30, 2021.
