Greta, the Realest One

LISTENING: to some Khalid because why not?
FEELING: strangely tired
SEEING: my Trader Joe's salsa especial sit on my desk

In a month, the world will mark a year since the Hamas attacks on Israel that plunged the region into a violent and bloody conflict. Oct. 7, 2023, will go down in history. Yes, as a day of heartbreak for the hostages and their families — especially those who will never return home. Also, as a day the Israeli government initiated a genocide of the Palestinian people.

I awoke this morning to the news that Greta Thunberg, the internationally renowned climate activist who founded the youth strike movement back in 2018, was arrested. What for? Well, for protesting the ongoing genocide in Gaza. It's important to note here that Israel's operations have expanded beyond Gaza and increasingly have been targeting the West Bank, too. Her protest was calling on the University of Copenhagen to boycott Israeli universities.

Welcome to Possibilities, a creative climate newsletter on the possibilities that lie where crisis meets community. I’m Yessenia Funes, and climate justice demands peace.

I was heartened to see Thunberg continuing to speak out in support of Palestine. It's not her first time. Her approach to climate activism has long been intersectional. I still remember when she first became an international icon. Though she was instantly beloved by many, a handful of climate activists didn't approve.

I won't name names, but I remember one climate justice activist based in the U.S. I had long considered a trusted source who posted nasty words about Thunberg on Facebook. This was an adult who took issue with Thunberg's whiteness. I, too, hate how the media idolizes white folks (especially young white girls) and demonizes Black and Brown youth. However, that's of no fault to Thunberg, who had always presented an impassioned plea for climate action in allyship with others, especially activists from the Global South. I stopped seeking that source for interviews after I saw how they treated a fellow comrade (and child!).

Say what you will about Thunberg, but she managed to take climate action to a new level and scale. What she accomplished was powerful. And she's not stopping there.

Thunberg isn't the only climate activist linking their work to the violence and death in Gaza. Across the globe, there are a number of climate activists who have been vocal about Israel's genocide against Palestinians. There's Mikaela Loach in the U.K. In the U.S., a whole movement of activists has risen up to shed light on the intersection. I wrote about that for Yale Climate Connections.

There are the institutions that are funding both the fossil fuel industry and Israel, which my story lightly touches on. There are also the actual greenhouse gas emissions associated with such destruction and war. However, there's a deeper connection between this sort of violence and the climate crisis. It's about freedom, about sovereignty, about self-determination.

I recently read the Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction book "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama" by Nathan Thrall. I can't remember if I've shared any of that with you all here, but WOW. What a fucking book. It chronicles what an average day can look like for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. It looks at what life was like for generations prior before the Nakba. It shows, in painful detail, just how much Israel controls the movement of Palestinians. It underscores how a number of families suffer as a result.

Climate justice is, ultimately, about building a better world. One with clean energy and clean water for all, yes. But also one where people have the freedom to move as they need — to seek shelter when they're in danger. To grow their food without fear of someone coming in and claiming those lands as theirs. To access emergency services when a storm strikes or bus accident happens. To find their missing child.

I hope this conflict ends soon. One year is far too much time. There's been enough death. The planet's spirit — and, indeed, our own — can't take much more. 🌀

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.

Tropical Cyclone Yagi is causing mayhem, already killing 14 people in the Phillippines.

In Japan, Typhoon Shanshan killed at least six people.

This summer saw 14 deaths in the Grand Canyon, in large part, due to extreme weather events.

At least 31 people are dead in Sudan after devastating floods last week.

Currently Reading

I lovedddd this story from Omnia Saed for Atmos about the Black archaeologists and divers researching shipwrecks from the transatlantic trade of enslaved people. The photos are haunting. The writing is immersive.

A wild piece of investigative reporting about how a toxic chemical destroyed one man's life in Puerto Rico. From the talented team at Grist.

I appreciated this long read about El Salvador President Nayib Bukele from Vera Bergengruen at TIME.

Poetry

a BODY can be silly
a BODY can be sold
a BODY can be sexy
a BODY can be old

my BODY is mine
your BODY is yours
love it, worship it
before the Earth claims it as hers.

-ylf-

written for Present Space Magazine

Are there other climate activists bridging the Palestine crisis and the climate crisis? Share their work in a comment!

- Yessenia