On August 9, 2021, the Secretary-General of the United Nations had this to say about the most recent report on climate change: “[The report] . . . is a code red for humanity.  The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse‑gas emissions from fossil-fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk.  Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible.” https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sgsm20847.doc.htm

On the same day, NPR ran a story about computer-generated solutions in which Ko Barrett, vice chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, stated, “The idea that there still is a pathway forward, I think, is a point that should give us some hope.” https://www.npr.org/2021/08/14/1027370891/climate-change-solutions-global-warming-computer-models-paris

The day before that, CNN added to the chorus of media reports about the current COVID-19 surge in the US, which is in many places worse than last winter’s surge, but focused on the solution, quoting CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky: “If we work together, unify as a country, vaccinate everyone who is interested and unvaccinated, and put our masks on to prevent disease, we could really control this in a matter of weeks.” https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/08/us/five-figures-us-summer-covid-surge/index.html

I recently received news that my daughter is going to have a baby. To say I am excited would be a vast understatement. Massive, prodigious, titanic even (she’ll get the reference). I am so full of joyful anticipation I can hardly stand it.

Anne Lamott says “Hope is not about proving anything. It’s about choosing to believe this one thing, that love is bigger than any grim, bleak sh*t anyone can throw at us.”

Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

Love is bigger than all the catastrophes around us. That doesn’t make them any less real, or diminish our responsibility to do what we can to alleviate suffering and mitigate problems – in fact I believe love is the reason we must do what we can to alleviate suffering and mitigate problems.

And love gives us a reason to look for, and find, hope for the future.

So here’s to love, and hope, and joy, and all those other “lovely intangibles,” because, as Fred Gailey points out, “those are the only things that are worthwhile.”

And if you need a break from all the bad news, if you’re having a hard time reconnecting with those lovely intangibles, and re-rooting yourself in hope, you might try watching this video about a man singing to a donkey . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12p0muaxWc4

A world where people sing their donkeys to sleep is a world worth fighting for.

Photos and images by Lina Trochez @lmtrochezz (hands with a flower);