Flames & Fury

LISTENING: to my cat eat his food
FEELING: overwhelmed
SEEING: the dark gray skies outside

Will our future consist only of flames and fury? If a meteor tore through our atmosphere today, would we even know it? Or would it collide with the rockets in the sky over Gaza? Would it fall onto grass already burning wild in Texas? Would we point a gun at it the way a police officer did when he saw a human body ablaze?

These are the questions I ask myself today. In my heart, I know there will be more to our future than the ashes of our pain, the embers of our failure. I know red and orange will be drowned by blue — that rains and floods and monstrous waves will terrorize us, too. Surely, the sun will rise again and awash the shredded lands in its golden hues.

Today, however, I can't imagine that. All I can see is fire. All I can hear are Aaron Bushnell's violent, pained cries: "Free Palestine! Free Palestine! Free Palestine! Free Palestine! Free Palestine!"

Welcome to Possibilities, a creative climate newsletter on the possibilities that lie where crisis meets community. I’m Yessenia Funes, and I can't get his burning image out of my head.

I've decided to make most posts available only to paid subscribers. The media industry is in a freefall these days. If you all care about the news and the workers giving you it, you should feel compelled to pay for it. I know I'm not giving you "the news" through this newsletter, but the newsletter helps fund my ability to do just that elsewhere and share it with you all here.

Bushnell was a 27-year-old veteran who lit himself on fire Sunday in protest of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. I don't endorse suicide. I am haunted by the loved ones in my life I've nearly lost to suicide's evil, convincing, conniving face. His death reminds me of the individuals who have done the same in protest of climate inaction: Wynn Alan Bruce in Colorado on Earth Day 2022 and David Buckel in Brooklyn in 2018.

These individuals wanted to send us a message. Bushnell about the fiery deaths Palestinians were suffering in Gaza. Bruce and Bucket about the world's slow burn at the hands of climate change.

Fire feels inescapable — whether we're talking about these extreme protests, war, or wildfires. In Texas, the Smokehouse Creek Fire may very well become the largest in the state's recorded history. As of this writing Wednesday night, the fire is burning 850,000 acres. It's already killed someone. I still wonder when we here in New York will feel the heat of wildfires burning too close. It's not a matter of if—it is a matter of when.

Is this our future? It's already our present reality. How will we come together to put out these flames? To stop the violence? I don't have any answers, but I see how everything is connected—through our shared desperation and pain. If only the people in power would dare to do better. Maybe more people would be alive today to make a difference. 🌀

Rest in Power

While we can't say for certain that climate change led to these specific weather events (we need attribution studies for that), we do know that the Earth's rising temperatures are already creating more disasters like these.

The Smokehouse Creek Fire in Texas has killed one person.

At least eight people are dead after heavy rains last week in Brazil led to flooding and landslides.

Currently Reading

A must-read from Amy Westervelt on how we should save media to save the planet.

Remember those kids who survived a plane crash in the Amazon? The Atavist has a hell of a story about it. I'm a bit late to the piece, but it's worth a read if you haven't already read.

A gorgeous story honoring Nex Benedict, the teen I wrote about last week who died in Oklahoma. A side note: He used he/they pronouns. Their friends say they were trans, not non-binary. I want to correct the record.

I haven't finished reading this one from Orion Magazine, but wow. So far, I'm engrossed.

It's time to list ecocide as an international crime.

It's the last day of Black History Month. You should know Jacqui Patterson if you don't already. Read this mini TIME profile.

Why don't we just ban fossil fuels? From The New York Times.

Poetry

I put a flame to my lips
never letting myself imagine
what it would feel if it spread
everywhere else

the cherry in my joint
falls on my thigh
ouch! it burns

I try to imagine that feeling
on all the rest of my skin

I shudder
I can't

how is this the world we live in?

See you next week. xx

- Yessenia