“One Thing You Can Do” – the first in a series of short essays inspired by the New York Times

  • November 14, 2018
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Jump in Wholeheartedly As someone who is relatively new in responding to our climate breakdown, the one thing I would recommend for those who are concerned is to find organizations that you feel a connection with and/or write to individuals that you admire, who are doing work to sustain life, and ask their advice on what you can do. I give myself as an example.  After seeing a film called “Planetary,” which begins with a few astronauts looking down at...

Impressions from the Global Climate Action Summit by Uli Nagel

  • November 11, 2018
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Impressions from the Global Climate Action Summit We usually don’t think much about the difference between linear and exponential functions unless they fall within the realm of our work. More over it’s hard for us to grasp exponential change. It doesn’t come naturally. If we want to combat climate change though, we need to. That was the message at the Global Climate Action Summit, an event hosted by California’s governor Jerry Brown: if the world’s greenhouse gas emissions peak in...

Beyond Hope or Despair

  • October 12, 2018
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Beyond Hope or Despair There is something beyond both hope or despair in response to the dilemma of climate change or climate breakdown, a term that the British journalist, George Monbiot recently coined.  When I hear people saying, yes, there is still hope, we must have hope, when what is being described seems so devoid of hope, then recently I find it grating to my ears. It just does not ring true to reality. The fear by many is that...

Dreaming Big

  • June 23, 2017
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Dreaming Big With Trump pulling out of the Paris agreement which in some ways was no surprise, but still a huge disappointment, it is heartening to read and see how many people, states, cities and towns are mobilizing in spite of this unfortunate act. There is still sanity on all sides of the aisle as we face now and in the future rising sea levels, droughts, super storms…the list goes on. I recently attended the annual Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) conference. It was...

A stretch in consciousness

  • May 14, 2017
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A Stretch in Consciousness Today is Mother’s Day. My dear mom died almost two years ago so I have no mom to call, visit or send flowers to, but nonetheless I bought flowers – light orange tulips – in honor of her spirit. Today I am also thinking of the great Mother Earth, as “she” has been called. It is our “mother earth” that is crying out for help. Recently in writing about my life since losing my mom, I ended...

Climate Change poem: Loud and Clear by Uli Nagel

  • April 20, 2017
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Written by Guest blogger Uli Nagel   Loud and Clear I climbed the hill behind the house Slipping on years and years of leaves piled high on the steep forest floor.   I huff-puffed the winter sloth into the first breeze of spring, and reached the top of the rocky drop into a valley that belongs to maples;   a spontaneous reserve on acres of abandoned paper mill, sweet, untouched nature since the day someone had dropped a tire there....

Climate Change poem: Perpetuity by Uli Nagel

  • April 18, 2017
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  Written by Guest blogger Uli Nagel   Perpetuity I never had kids – never wanted to or dared to dabble with life that way. I thought that maybe this world is human enough.   30 years later, there are a lot more of us, 3 billion or so and still I envy my friends now and then, spending time with their grandkids anytime they can in between organizing against mass-extinction and climate change.   On the other hand, my...

Ice and Sky

  • April 3, 2017
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Ice and Sky Hardly anybody knows this about me, but when I was thirteen, I fell in love with Antarctica. An unusual place to fall in love with, but it was all because of my 8th grade teacher whom I adored. I had her jointly for English and History and we did projects on topics that blended history, English, creativity, drama and even cooking. We did a whole project on Antarctica; read poems, read the journal of Robert Scott, who died...

Where there is a vision and a plan

  • March 21, 2017
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Where there is a Vision and a Plan Recently I went to a writer’s conference in San Miguel De Allende, Mexico. It was my second time there and in addition to kick starting my writing practice, I was very inspired by listening to many of the speakers, including and most importantly Naomi Klein, Canadian author and social activist, known for her recent book “This Changes Everything” and her husband, Avi Lewis, the director of the film “This Changes Everything.” In listening both to...

A spiral of hope, possibilities and gratitude

  • March 2, 2017
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Written by Guest blogger Uli Nagel A spiral of Hope, Possibilities and Gratitude I am travelling in Europe right now, through Germany and Switzerland, visiting friends and family as well as participating in some trainings and seminars. A lot of conversations turn towards the current trends in many countries towards a more nationalistic, less global and open society – in Poland, Hungary, France, Denmark, Holland and in the US. Often, worry, disbelief, indignation and fear are the emotions underlying these...