Measured in Love

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LISTENING: to bad bunny forever
FEELING: heavy after a strange day
SEEING: a mess on my desk!!

"The only thing more powerful than hate is love."

Those were the words Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio aka Bad Bunny left us with at the end of his halftime show at the Super Bowl Sunday.

I've never needed to hear those words more. It's a hard time to be a reporter who writes about climate change and the environment. I can't even keep up with the everyday updates on the beat. I'm too distraught by everything else. I do see the headlines, though: climate policies in the trash, climate news teams gutted, climate ties in the Epstein files, billions of climate dollars lost.

I'm struggling to believe in impending victory or success. There's so much evil out there. So much hate. So much ignorance and hypocrisy. Then, I look at Bad Bunny singing on the football field, and I remember how much ugliness my people have already been through. I remember that the grips of colonialism and extraction have sullied these lands before. I remember that generations of people who have come before me pushed through then. And we'll push through now.

Bad Bunny's performance reminded me of how far we've come. He reminded me of that little girl who used to dream — who was idealistic and perhaps a bit naive but unrelenting in her commitment to love. He reminded me of the joy my people carry. We're warriors. Warriors who fight with the swing of our hips and the shuffling of our feet. Warriors who attack with besos y abrazos y lágrimas.

As Benito sings in my favorite song (shared above), "Llorar nunca ha sido delito / Y los días lluviosos a veces son los más bonitos / Pero hoy salió el sol / Y me siento mejor / Lo malo pasó, el tiempo es mi doctor / ... / Abraza a tu hermano y no mires el color / Que aquí todos somos iguales / Cuánto tú ames, eso es lo que vales."

In English: "Crying has never been a crime / And sometimes, rainy days are the prettiest / But today the sun came out / And I feel better / The worst has already happened, but time is my doctor / ... / Hug your brother and don't look at his color / Here, we're all equal / How much you love, that's your worth."

Make yourself invaluable. Keep loving. Endlessly. Relentlessly. Love, love, and love some more. Don't let them strip the best part of us away. When all is said and done, how much will you be worth? 🌀

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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 frequent and/or stronger disasters like these.

At least two people are dead, one in Spain and another person in Portugal, after Storm Leonardo brought awful floods last week.

Deadly floods have also been affecting Colombia for weeks, leaving at least 44 people dead as of Wednesday.

Morocco is also reeling after heavy rains and flooding killed at least four people over the weekend, including three children.

Another New Yorker has died as a result of the freezing temperatures gripping the city.

Currently Reading

If there's one story you read, please let it be this one by Mica Rosenberg for ProPublica: "I have friends, school, and family here in the United States. To this day, I don’t know what we did wrong to be detained. I feel like I’ll never get out of here. I just ask that you don’t forget about us.”

Whitney Bauck reminds us of the U.S. history of criminalizing protest for the Guardian.

New York is considering a pause on data centers, Molly Taft reports for WIRED. Hell yes!

I don't usually share audio or video here, but the GOAT Elizabeth Yeampierre has launched a podcast. Give it a listen here.

Art

- Yessenia