This Is Home

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LISTENING: to my interview with joi lee
FEELING: the saddest I've been in a long while
SEEING: my green new deal mug

I first met Joi Lee many moons ago — when she was head of editorial for Earthrise Studio and I was climate director for Atmos. Earthrise and Atmos are, arguably, the vibiest climate media on the internet. She's now an independent journalist like me. Since Jan. 16, 2026, she's been on the ground in below-freezing Minneapolis, rocking snow on her lashes instead of mascara.

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

I reached out to Joi to understand why she left a stable climate gig and a life in London to return home to the crumbling United States of America to cover the fall of an empire. Today's newsletter is a lightly edited version of that conversation, which took place over WhatsApp voice notes in between Joi's very important reporting on Immigration and Customs Enforcement brutality in Minneapolis. She's been on the scene in the aftermath of Alex Pretti's murder, as well as the arrests of activists of color.

You can follow Joi on Instagram to keep up with her work and stunning imagery. She's unrelenting in her commitment to telling the people's stories.

Before we jump to that, however, I want to remind y'all that the latest Possibilities playlist is available for you to save. x

YESSENIA FUNES
What compelled you to transition from climate storytelling to covering ICE and U.S. politics?

JOI LEE
On a personal level, I have been living abroad, off and on, for the last 14 years, and I just couldn't bear watching the news from afar anymore. I've never believed in the American project. I see American mythology as a propaganda machine for imperialism, but that being said, it's my home.

What's been happening under Trump's leadership particularly — but also in Biden's — is really horrific to see how it impacts the communities I really care about. It's a moment in time where, if you are an American and you hold a U.S. citizenship, you have a responsibility to stand as a witness to what's happening and to push back against the increasing abuses of power that we're seeing at the hands of the federal government.

This moment of time is an accumulation of so many things: the climate crisis, the Palestinian movement, the fight against genocide, the fight against far-right governments worldwide. It's an escalating, accumulating moment where people are realizing that so much power has been stripped away from our own hands — but the reality is we can demand it back. We have to. The stakes are very high.

This is all different sides of the same coin of imperial power and hegemony benefiting off the oppression of the many — whether through a militarized arm of federal agents or fossil fuel billionaires.

I'm seeing families' lives turned upside down. I'm seeing not just egregious violations of civil rights against immigrants, but also that of U.S. citizens. And this is what happens when power goes unchecked, when power is continuously fed. This moment in Minnesota is a really telling moment for that.

Activists have been rounded up and arrested for speaking out, including Nekima Levy Armstrong, one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement here in Minneapolis. So was someone I know: William Kelly, who goes on social media by @dawokefarmer. He was arrested at gunpoint. He's a combat veteran who is an activist. The only thing he did was protest and exercise his constitutional First Amendment right.

It's increasingly obvious that power has not been in the service of the larger majority. I can hear myself — I've been getting radicalized.

YESSENIA
What threads do you see between the climate crisis and your current coverage as you take in the reality of what's happening on the ground in Minneapolis?

JOI
They're very much different sides of the same coin. Both are operating under the assumption that you have a hyper-elite class that is knowingly inflicting harm on the larger majority as a means to gain its own power and money.

A lot of this is interconnected as a class struggle. Bodies of color are paying the price so that the hyper-elite at the top can continue to profit and benefit. I do see these things as interconnected. The border-industrial complex is a massive money-making machine at this time, and they don't care at what cost.

This is all different sides of the same coin of imperial power and hegemony benefiting off the oppression of the many — whether through a militarized arm of federal agents or fossil fuel billionaires.

The first step is to get to know your neighbors...

YESSENIA
What message do you want to leave with readers who are struggling to figure out their role in this work?

JOI
The first step is get to know your neighbors. So many of these tactics are about dividing us and separating us from our community and making us think as individuals or consumers.

We need to reinforce our sense of community and collective not only so we can have a sense of accountability to each other and act in better faith toward each other, but also as a way to understand that we are more powerful in our numbers. This sounds so cheesy, but if we understand the power we have when we're together, there really is nothing we can't achieve.

Get to know your neighbors, and through that process, you'll understand, within that constellation of your community, what role you can fill. That's what I've learned here in Minnesota, where everybody has gotten to know their neighbors.

You have people who are standing on the corners of their neighborhoods to keep watch for ICE. People driving in their cars and patrolling. People who go and sit in restaurants to keep an eye on vulnerable employees. People dropping off essential needs at food banks and people dropping off food to vulnerable families sheltering in place. People who are medics and frontliners who aren't afraid to step up. There are a million different ways to do it. But all of that is only possible when you get to know your neighbors and understand what the needs of your community are.

The message is: You need to wake up and have your eyes wide open and stand up. Take stock of who is your community. Who are you standing for and serving? If you are able to answer those questions, you can find answers for how to serve. Literally, everyone here is finding a way to support one another. 🌀

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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.

Across the U.S., at least 41 people have died due to the dramatic snowstorm that swept vast swaths of the nation.

New Zealand is reeling from landslides, triggered by intense rains, that left at least two people dead.

Severe floods struck Tunisia this week, killing at least four people.

Up to 380 people are believed to be dead after Cyclone Harry sank ships off the coasts of Italy and Malta. Many boats were carrying immigrants from northern African countries. Fifty deaths have been confirmed.

Currently Reading

Andrew Freedman breaks down the science behind climate change and winter storms for CNN.

Kerry Howley has some sobering words in New York Magazine: "I finally bought a gas mask. You should get one too."

For n+1, Erin West gives us a sense of the urgency on the ground in Minneapolis.

This was such a delightful read. Is cutting down a tree akin to murder when the tree was as beloved as this sycamore was? Rosa Lyster writes for Harper's Magazine.

The lead image of this news dispatch from Valerie Gonzalez for the AP is heartbreaking.

Emily Atkin says what we're all feeling in her latest HEATED edition.

Hamilton Nolan, a former colleague, has been on the ground in Minneapolis and illustrates how high the stakes are for all of us in his newsletter.

For The Verge, Kristen Radtke reminds us that Alex Pretti was once a child, too — and she, quite generously, shares warm memories of their friendship growing up together. This one made me cry. A lot.

Ta-Nehisi Coates writes about The Homeland for Vanity Fair: "The criteria for these distinctions—between putative immigrant and indelible alien—are not complicated; for above all, The Homeland is a racist project."

Art

- Yessenia