Thankful to Be Free
LISTENING: to the 'Squid Game' theme song
FEELING: tired
SEEING: this goofy ass 'Squid Game: The Challenge' show
By the time you all will be reading this, Thanksgiving Day will be upon us.
It's my favorite holiday—I know, don't cancel me just yet. I've written about navigating the emotions of such a violent holiday as an adult now that I know its history. This year, however, I want to challenge all of us to think about the colonialist roots of Thanksgiving and the ways colonialism continues today.
The Israeli occupation of Palestine is a textbook example of modern-day colonialism.
Welcome to Possibilities, a creative climate newsletter on the possibilities that lie where crisis meets community. I’m Yessenia Funes, and we can't look away from Palestine.
Earlier this week, I interviewed Abeer Butmeh. She's the coordinator for the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network. She lives in the West Bank. Palestinians don't celebrate Thanksgiving—this is, of course, an American holiday—but I found myself thinking about how fucked up it is that my family and I will gather around our table to feast in a few short days while households on the other side of the world don't have tables to sit around.
In Gaza, people are losing their homes at best. At worst, they are losing their lives.
For Palestinian environmentalists, their activism is directly tied to the violence their land and people face.
"To be an environmentalist in Palestine is different than being an environmental activist in any other country," Butmeh said. "There are a lot of risks and restrictions, but these restrictions and threats give us power to continue working and give us power to continue fighting to achieve environmental justice in Palestine."
Our leaders in the U.S. are complicit. A pause in fighting is not a ceasefire. None of this is the environmental justice President Joe Biden promised us.
As I get off the phone with Butmeh, I can't help but wonder if the West Bank will be next. How much longer is she safe? Will the Israeli government stop at Gaza? The climate movement needs everyone. It needs Palestine. It needs people like Butmeh.
Her message is a simple one: Be wary of Israel's green promises. Boycott COP28, the international climate conference kicking off in a few short weeks. Abu Dhabi, the event's host, is friendly to the right-wing government in Israel.
"What's happening in Gaza is not only a human genocide," Butmeh said. "It's environmental genocide. We raise our voices to stop these environmental crimes, but the international community stays silent without any real action." 🌀
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.
Extreme heat killed Ana Clara Benevides Machado, a Taylor Swift fan, at the musician's concert in Rio last week.
A landslide that tore through an Alaskan community Tuesday killed at least three people.
Severe rains have left at least 21 dead in the Dominican Republic.
Currently Reading
My second story in The Verge series from last week looked at the growing use of generative AI in our smart home devices—and the environmental consequences.
Trust Justin Worland at TIME to cover the face of this year's COP28 in a tasteful yet honest manner.
The Los Angeles Times becomes the first major U.S. paper to call for a ceasefire.
An investigation from Austyn Gaffney at Grist reminds us to not believe everything these green tech companies are telling us.
From Kate Marvel for The New York Times: "I could still tell you scary stories about a future ravaged by climate change, and they’d be true, at least on the trajectory we’re currently on. But it’s also true that we have a once-in-human-history chance not only to prevent the worst effects but also to make the world better right now."
Thinking of this New Yorker essay from Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha, who was briefly detained by the Israeli military after its publishing.
Poetry
radical, you say?
a ceasefire is not enough
liberation is
-ylf-
See you next week. xx
- Yessenia
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