In Lava

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LISTENING: to my husband play rocket league
FEELING: grateful and homesick
SEEING: the fans blow cool air

I’m in Guatemala for my honeymoon, so let’s keep this short.

I’m in awe of this place and its people. The volcanoes are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. As my husband and I twisted our way to Panajachel, a lakeside town surrounded by three volcanoes, we saw a cloud of wild lightning above one of the volcanoes. It was incredible — and terrifying.

My jaw dropped, but the locals didn’t bat an eye. They’re used to the electric skies. I wonder if folks here know how climate change, driven by fossil fuel pollution, will impact volcanic activity, too. My husband’s cousin connected climate change to the unseasonal heat and dry wet season, but we didn’t talk about the giant volcanoes full of magma and rock.

I read that as glaciers melt, magma can rise up a volcano faster. Precipitation patterns also influence magma systems, and we know that the planet’s rising temperatures are making the rain all types of weird.

I’ve met several Indigenous artisanal artists in my journeys. I doubt their families are consuming much energy, yet their homelands will feel an extraordinary side effect of climate change. The country’s per-capita emissions were just 1.08 metric tons in 2024. In the U.S., that number is more than 14.

The people are rising up, though. Indigenous communities have been protesting across the country against the local rise of oil prices: Across 27 Guatemalan cities, locals have taken part in at least 40 actions, according to the U.N.-funded research group ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data).

We can‘t ignore how this is all connected to the U.S. war on Iran, which is tied to its funding of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and bombardment in Lebanon.

I’m on my honeymoon, but the evils of the world are heavy on my mind. They always are. 🌀

Currently Reading

Fossil fuel companies are still trying to build nasty pipelines through tribal lands. We can’t let them get away. Samantha Harrington writes for Yale Climate Connection about the Bay Mills Indian Community‘s battle in Michigan.

Oliver Milman did a great job writing about the guy measuring how hot New York’s subways get for The Guardian.

ProPublica published an important investigation about the vulnerability of mobile home owners in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene — by Ren Larson.

Poetry

- Yessenia x