i’m sorry for bringing you into this world. it must be stressful and unfair and frustrating. it already is here in 2022 and has been for many, for years. but i would hazard a guess that this is a scary time to be alive and growing up so i’m sorry for putting this upon you. but truly, i’m happy that you’re here. i’m excited for the life you have to live and the growth that you will go through. while it may be hard and daunting to keep persevering and making change, you can do it. 

it was very conflicting for me thinking about having kids. towards the end of high school and beginning of college, i didn’t want children because i was scared of the future. i didn’t want the responsibility of making that choice to put people through a messed up world of crisis after crisis. i had little hope for the future. i was never able to imagine anything at all. people all the time would ask, where do you want to go to college? where do you see yourself when you graduate? in five years? in 10? in 20? who knows?? when i pictured the future, i saw nothing besides darkness. i couldn’t form a single vision or even see an exaggerated destructive future.

the media and ideas that i surrounded myself with were often bleak regarding the state of the world. there would be at minimum 2°c of warming if action was taken as soon as possible in 2022. aggressive, immediate, widespread action. and with that warming and the unknowns of tipping points and albedo, a potential runaway greenhouse effect. oceans warming and acidifying, changing currents and air circulation, completely reshaping the planet. plants and animals going extinct every day, that leaf on the evolutionary tree of life gone forever. extreme weather events whiplashing between massive droughts and mighty floods, heat waves with blazing fires and ice-free winters. sea levels rising meters and meters higher, swallowing islands and coasts, forcing people out of their homes and closer and closer together. the list goes on. 

and now i’m sure you know all of this intimately. you see it and experience it every day. and other people are more at risk than you. the world for so long has been fraught with inequity and oppression. i hope that the communities we live in now are more kind and caring than what pervades today. we’re so caught up in disavowment and deregulated capitalism in favor of a habitable future. i’m sorry. 

but you being alive is proof that i have always cared about you before you even came into existence. back when this letter was being written and even before, i was concerned. i mean of course, i’m constantly concerned. but i was concerned about the future and our planet and the people to come after me. one time, a guest speaker in one of my classes with bill mckibben told us about a study that had just come out about young people (gen z) and our anxiety about the future. most young people were concerned. and most young people also didn’t want to have kids because of climate change and the scary future. but, the guest told us, if you’re here in this class right now and concerned, you go have kids. pass on those genes that care. especially because we know that the people who don’t care will definitely be having kids and passing on their genes. hah yikes. 

while that seems so self-centered to have children so that my particular genes can be passed on, i guess it sort of made sense. if i cared about the planet and people and climate justice, why not get more people to care about that? about this time, i was learning that i really cared (care still? hopefully?) about environmental education. i wanted to get more people outside to recreate and learn about the natural world. i wanted to get people invested in our planet and help them make connections to places that were threatened. if they had an opportunity to spend time outside hiking and learning about different trees in the forest and how invasive species were spreading and threatening hundreds-of-years-old trees; or if they could paddle down a river and see acres of irrigated farmland and also nutrient runoff clouding the river; or if people were able to dive in the tropical oceans, that used to be way lower in latitude, and be surrounded by beautiful, colorful fish and notice the less vibrant coral that was slowly being bleached, then maybe people would understand. then maybe people would do something. build people power and change culture. that became my hope and goal. 

and now i’ve got you! you’re not just alive as a passing of my concerned (anxious?) genes. you’re here because children are our future. because young people are so incredibly powerful and moving. young people work so hard and have so many intentions and dreams and know how to imagine a world. young people picture a better future and work towards it because everything depends on that work. and through you, i’m reminded to keep working. i’m reminded that i can never lose hope and never stop because the future depends on it. my life might feel small or disconnected or powerless in the big wide world, but as long as i’m doing something that isn’t nothing, it’s something. and if i’m talking about that something and sharing that something and getting more people involved in that something, it’s helping. so thank you. 

this must be a lot to be growing up in this wild time. and a lot of pressure from the world and maybe from me in this writing. i, along with many others, especially at your age, used to feel the crushing weight of the entire world on our shoulders. it was easy to feel paralyzed by that anxiety. easy to pretend that everything was okay and other people would take care of it. so much more comfortable to do a tiny bit and hope that the world wouldn’t come crashing down on top of us. but it’s hard. and scary and tiring. while the weight of the whole world doesn’t rest upon your shoulders, do something. do something to make at least one person, one animal, one plant, one something better. use your imagination. picture the world that you want. and figure out how you can get there. i’m right here to help. what is your vision? 

and remember to love life. it may be hard. and without power and privilege in this world it is a lot harder. but please, create a life that you love. not every second is going to be happy. that would be unhealthy. but find your center and calm. find what grounds you and brings you joy and nourishes you. and remember those things. remember and cherish the smallest instances of stopping to stare at a lovely flower in the busy city. of listening to the waves as they roll and crash and feel the grains of sand beneath your feet. breathe in and smell the freshness and crispness of the clean, cool mountain air as it revitalizes you. my whole heart is with you. 

♡ with love 

my plan is to create a podcast that, generally, exposes the audience to a more intimate, involved, and familial relationship with the process of food acquiring as an alternative to the current outlook on food in the u.s. (which includes fast food, restaurants, technology advances, social media, delivery services, and meal prepping services).

after interviewing my star speaker, it dawned upon me that my food consciousness might need some improvements. our future, indubitably, includes technology. as a society we need to create a system of healthy, environmentally friendly, efficient, and affordable food production and distribution methods that embrace technological advances if we want to work towards a more sustainable future.

besides switching our vocabularies and our mindsets to more positive connotations in our own language, there are certain concepts and terms nonexistent in the english language that would aid in our envisioning of a better future.

published later this year, the collection loanwords to live with: an ecotopian lexicon against the anthropocene seeks to assemble a disparate lexicon that describes “not what exists in fossil-fueled capitalism but what should be: ecological terms and phrases that intimate and inspire better ways of life.” ecotopian language in the anglosphere pits mankind as separate from nature, deepening the divide between us and the environment. reaching beyond english and the dominant narrative of humans triumphing over the elements, we provide here a list of 6 words or terms of potential topics in the collection to reinvent how we talk about climate change and our relationship to the rest of life in the ecological web.

1. nahual

in ancient mayan mythology, each person was believed to have a companion animal that shared their soul and fate – as such, human and nature were intimately connected. the relationship between a person and their nahual is described like wearing a mask: one hides behind the other. the quetzal, guatemala’s national bird, was said to be the nahual of a mayan prince who fought the spanish conquistadors. when the prince was felled by a spanish spear, the quetzal which was circling overhead in protection, flew down and landed upon the prince’s wound, dipping its breast feathers in his blood – this is why the breast feathers of the quetzal are said to be a fiery red.

your nahual is assigned to you at birth, and similar to a zodiac, influences one’s character traits.

2. empath 

the term empath is borrowed from science fiction writing, most notably from octavia butler’s parable of the sower which is a hopeful tale set in a dystopian united states. an empath is a person with paranormal ability to perceive the mental or emotional state of another individual. butler’s protagonist in this novel became a “sharer” or empathy because her mother took a drug while pregnant. the protagonist shares the pain of all those living around her, and the connection she has to the rest of the world through compassion and empathy, rather than selfishness, become the guiding principles to a new society that the protagonist founds. empathy and sympathy are central to the concept of universal humanity, and nurturing our capacities to be empaths, or emotional sponges, from a young age, will allow us to engrave the importance of other life (human and non-human) into our consciousness.

3. pachamama (and other earth gods/goddesses)

pachamama is an earth goddess of the andes mountains who survived the spanish conquest and is still revered today. in incan mythology, pachamama presides over planting and harvesting and has the power to embody mountains or shake the earth. in english, pachamama most closely means mother earth. pacha means earth, cosmos, universe, time, space etc. in quechua and aymara, and mama means mother. the deity is claimed to be the origin of the elements of the world as we know it – the four cosmological quechua principles of water, earth, moon, and sun come from pachamama. the relationship to pachamama is visible to this day in the practice of challa, or the sprinkling of drops of beer/alcohol on the ground before drinking as a way to give thanks to pachamama.

the veneration of earth deities is most common in places where people are more closely bound to the cultivation of their own livelihoods and sustenance. as more of the world’s population continues to move into cities, we must not forget importance of balance in nature. in south america, many believe that problems arise when too much is taken from nature because they are taking too much from pachamama.

4. forest bath (森林浴)

the longevity of the japanese may be tied to their practice of “forest bathing,” or essentially meditation in nature. there’s no water involved in this bath. it is rather a submerging of oneself into the elements of nature; quality time in the forest without distractions. the practice of shinrin-yoku was part of a national public health program introduced in 1982 when the forestry ministry coined the term. since then, there has been proof of beneficial health effects. the magical, rejuvenating boost that a walk in the woods gives you is rooted in naturally produced allelochemic substances known as phytoncides, or pheromones for plants. when humans are around these phytoncides, they help to decrease blood pressure, alleviate stress, and strengthen the immune system. garlic, onion, pine, tea plants, and oak trees give off phytoncides (and that’s also why they are so aromatic!).

5. heyiya-if, from ursula le guin’s always coming home

famous sci-fi author ursula le guin integrates taoist beliefs into a cultural group called the kesh in her book, always coming home. the kesh are a peaceful people who reject domination over nature. the double spiral of the heyiya-if is a holy symbol for the kesh. it resembles the taijitu, or the ancient symbol of yin yang. the swirling motion of the heyiya-if describes the divine circle of life. its endless movement represents the constant change of the world and its cycles, where night becomes day which turns into night again; all births culminate in death, which leads to a re-birth. the opposing but complementary forces present in everything show how our own life cycles are interconnected and dependent on the natural world. when our lives and fates are intertwined with the rest of nature, we cannot exist separately.

6. buen vivir

buen vivir literally means a good life or well-being, but it also encompasses a social philosophy inspiring movements in south america. in just two words, buen vivir includes concepts of degrowth, dematerialism, alternative development, happiness, and collectivism. similar to some of the other loanwords, buen vivir has its roots in indigenous society.

buen vivir is loosely translated from sumak kawsay, or the cosmovision (world view) of the quechua. this world view sees humans and nature existing in communion based on harmonious totality of existence (the necessary interrelation of beings, knowledges, rationalities, etc.). the term has inspired social movements advocating for an alternative paradigm of development that is balanced, culturally-appropriate, and communitarian. the defining principle of the collective in buen vivir paves a path separate from that of capitalism and the mechanisms created to put a price on nature, such as ecosystem services. under the outlook of buen vivir, humans cannot own the earth – we can only act as stewards.

the ideas coming into fruition today from the belief systems of indigenous cultures like the quechua are visible in concepts like the sharing economy or collaborative consumption.

———

our words are our ultimately our tools to construct a vision of the future. we must stretch ourselves beyond the limits of the anglosphere to incorporate multiculturalism and multilingualism in understanding how we talk about our relationship with the earth and our connection to future generations. with the publication of loanwords to live with, we can begin to speak in the way we wish to act, living in harmony.

the mining and burning of coal is at the epicenter of america’s struggle to balance its energy needs with environmental concerns. nowhere is that concern greater than in coal river valley, west virginia, where a small but passionate group of ordinary citizens are trying to stop big coal corporations, like massey energy, from continuing the devastating practice of mountain top removal.

instead the communities around coal river mountain propose a wind farm that could produce 328 megawatts of clean power and jobs forever, while the polluting coal would be depleted and the jobs gone in under 15 years. a forward thinking change in local or federal laws could quickly change the tables.

david, himself, never faced a goliath like big coal.

the citizens argue the practice of dynamiting the mountain’s top off to mine the coal within pollutes the air and water, is responsible for the deaths of their neighbors and spreads pollution to other states. yet, regardless of evidence supporting these claims, big coal corporations repeat the process daily in the name of profit. massive profit allows big coal to wield incredible financial influence over lobbyists and government officials in both parties, rewrite environmental protection laws, avoid lawsuits and eliminate more than 40,000 mining jobs, all while claiming to be a miner’s best friend. as our energy needs increase, so does big coal’s control over our future. this fact and a belief that america was founded on the democratic principal that no individual or corporation owns the air and water and we all share the responsibility of protecting it, drives these patriotic citizens and their supporters from outside of appalachia, like robert f. kennedy, jr., to keep fighting.

a passionate and personal tale that honors the extraordinary power of ordinary americans when they fight for what they believe in, “the last mountain” shines a light on america’s energy needs and how those needs are being supplied. it is a fight for our future that affects us all.

“the last mountain” was picked up for theatrical distribution at the sundance film festival where it just premiered in january and it will be in theaters this spring! we ask for your support for “the last mountain” and in the fight for coal river wind, but most importantly for clean energy nationwide. we hope to change hearts and minds in the debate over our energy future and we look forward to the live taping in march!

to see the film’s website go here: www.thelastmountainmovie.com

to see a short report proving that wind is viable on coal river mountain go here: www.crmw.net/crmw/wp-content/uploads/files/crw_brochure.pdf

the full economic study is here:
www.crmw.net/crmw/wp-content/uploads/files/wind_vs_mountaintop_removal_coal_coal_river_mtn_dec2008.pdf

and here is a video on the wind project: www.youtube.com/watch?v=viwo9z3ilro