Recharging...

LISTENING: to my cat's collar bell
FEELING: restful
SEEING: my beloved desk again

I'm back in New York after a special few days in El Salvador. Wow, I had no idea how badly I needed that. My babies (my nephew and niece) got to meet their grandpa, and I was surprised by how moving that was. My brother got to see our dad again after (too) many years of no contact. So did my sister.

As for me, I got to introduce my partner to my family. He and I have had a long, rough ride that has, at moments, left me uncertain, but seeing my family embrace him and remind me he's a good man ignited something in me I didn't realize I needed. More importantly, perhaps, I got to spend some time with my grandma from my mom's side and ask her about her upbringing.

I want to learn more about my ancestry — about the women who came before me. If I ever write a book, I think it would have to be about them. I learned a few things: My grandma was largely abandoned by her mom and raised by her grandparents. My grandma was very poor when she was raising my mom and her closest sisters. Because of that poverty, my mom was malnourished and didn't learn to walk until she was 3. The land on which their house now stands was gifted by my grandma's uncle (my great-uncle?) after he saw how much she'd shuffle around with her girls. The land was worth nothing then — it rests on a floodplain and regularly gets poured on. After my mother and uncle helped my grandma build it up with the remittances they'd send home from the U.S., that same uncle demanded he be paid for what was initially a gift.

I can't imagine growing up this way. I grew up poor in the U.S., but the poverty I experienced is nothing like the extreme poverty of countries in Latin America. That inequality, indeed, is what triggered the Salvadoran Civil War in the '80s. People can only suffer for so long before they revolt. I consider that truth as climate calamity hits region after region with catastrophe after catastrophe.

We're living in the age of climate crisis, but I also believe this is the age of revolution.

Welcome to Possibilities, a creative climate newsletter on the possibilities that lie where crisis meets community. I’m Yessenia Funes, and the Global South is always front of mind for me.

For me, fall marks the start of the season of global climate conversations. There's NYC Climate Week in September. COP29 comes in November. The Loss and Damage Fund set up at the last climate negotiations will continue to be a focal point at this year's international treaty talks. There's not yet sufficient money entering the fund to help all impacted places. Financing will be top of mind for world leaders to discuss.

They will also look at how they can reduce the $421 billion price tag of the loss and damages climate disasters can incur. If countries can do more to prepare for these disasters and warn communities of their impending arrival, less ruin would be left in their wake. That means upgrading weather forecasting systems so that communities can know what's coming. Countries must also take swift action to prepare for sea level rise and storms and droughts by building infrastructure. That will cut costs, too.

If wealthy leaders fail this task, I can only hope that the people will not rest until their needs are met.

I'm taking this week off so I can rest and recharge ahead of a busy fall. I hope you all are enjoying the last weeks of summer. The foliage will be turning orange and yellow and shedding before we know it — and then will come the cold winter. I hope you're able to pause and reflect. And if you can't, I hope you're taking small moments — five to 15 minutes here and there — to breathe and indulge, to sit and smile. I'm spending my day with one of my best friends, and then I'm going to acupuncture tomorrow.

What are you doing to recharge? 🌀

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.

Floods have been affecting Bangladesh and India since Friday, killing at least 30 people.

Some 138 people have died in Sudan after an intense rainy season caused floods.

In Nigeria, weeks of flooding have caused at least 170 deaths.

In Italy, seven people died last week after a waterspout hit a luxury yacht.

Currently Reading

I, unfortunately, took no time to read during my days off. I did have a story publish, however, with Yale Climate Connections. It's about the protests targeting Citigroup in New York City for the financial institution's ties to fossil fuels and Israel. I got to do some on-the-ground reporting for this one. Give it a read!

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I'll be back in full swing next week! Grateful to this community and its support, always. xx

- Yessenia