TL;DR: What we need is not a NEW way of living, it's a return to the time before we were all dependent on plastic and planes; you can take inspiration from any fictional figure you like, but today I'm looking to my imaginary BFF, Anne of Green Gables; these tips are not silly they are totally legit.
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Friday!
Okay, I've been slack with helpful climate content lately (it's fine the world is burning while I procrastinate whatever) cause I got my wisdom teeth pulled out and I'm writing this PhD thing. My best news this week is that I can now eat weetbix again. Also, when you have a bunch of stitches inside your mouth, and then one morning you wake up and they're not there any more, where did they go? Asking for a friend. Given the renewed feeling of emergency this week, this was encouraging: the economics researcher who conducted the 2008 and 2011 climate reviews for the Australian government says that reducing emissions will cost much less than previously thought, and Australia has an unparalleled economic opportunity in a post-carbon world. Also, this week we hit a milestone and met 50% of electricity demand in Australia from renewable sources for a period on Wednesday. In response to this week's declaration signed by 11,000 scientists that the climate emergency is upon us and accelerating faster than predicted, several organisations have announced they're stepping up pressure on our federal government. If you'd like to take material action in support of these campaigns, you could make a quick one-off donation right now - take a look at what the Climate Council and Greenpeace have got going on. Okay! We are now entering the non-climate good news zone! After a 10-year-old McDonalds burger on display in Iceland got a lot of media buzz, these Aussie legends topped it with a 25-year-old Big Mac they've been saving for a friend. ""It's as hard as a rock," said [co-owner] Mr Dean, adding that it has never smelt at all." I know we've seen it before but this video of a dog meeting its favourite toy IRL is just one of the best things out there. Also: this collection of thoughts of Dog! The love of dogs for humans is so pure. And funny. (Thanks Daniel and Leesa for tagging this on facebook.) Also: everything is terrible so I googled "dogs being interviewed" and it helped. I recently took up running (I feel like this is super out of character for me but nobody else thinks so?) but for the past three years I've been a happy half-marathon widow. So much YES to this lovely piece that captures the magic of not running marathons while somebody else does. "When somebody recognises you in a grocery store nod briefly and become a cabbage" ...is maybe the most relatable line of poetry I've ever read. Here's the whole poem, which perfectly captures how I feel in this current season of my life. (Sorry and thank you to everybody who is actually, somehow, still my friend.) We try not to buy new stuff ever, but some essentials are trickier to get second hand - like undies. Just discovered Le Buns, a Melbourne-based sustainable underwear and swimwear brand that sells its seconds at half-price and has free shipping within Australia. I haven't tried them yet so if you do, let me know how it goes! Book recs from my bedside reading stack this week: A Life Less Throwaway - why and how to buy things that will last for your whole life The Bear and the Nightingale - wintry fairytale; Russian names that are fun to say out loud Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk - New Year's Eve, New York City, 1984. Sassy 85-year-old lady goes for a long walk, meets a bunch of people and reminisces about her former life as the highest-paid woman in Mad Men-era advertising. Related: this is the real-life "Subway Vigilante" incident that forms part of the background setting of the book. TV update: I'm in Glee season 3 and The Office season 4. Let your enthusiastic debriefing in my facebook comments commence. Happy weekend, friends. "May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears." (Nelson Mandela but it totally sounds like something Dumbledore would say, right?) xx Kamina Friends.
Lately I've been feeling: Scared by the magnitude and gathering speed of the impacts of climate change. (In my city, we've just suffered through a week of smoke haze and hazardous air pollution levels due to nearby bushfires.) Increasingly afraid that we can't do anything to stop it. Losing momentum now that the global climate strikes and spring protests are over (...and everything feels the same). Tired, so tired. How about you? The best antidote for despair is action. And the best way to use positive energy is action. So regardless of where you sit on the feelings spectrum right now, here are three tiny things you can do in the next five minutes in service of changing the world for good. Three tiny actions 1. Subscribe to the New York Times Climate Fwd newsletter. Why? For regular prods to remember that climate change matters, and stay in the loop about new developments from a wider-than-just-Australian perspective. Yes, it can be a little USA-centric, but NY Times is globally aware and much of what they share in their Climate Fwd newsletter is relevant and/or interesting. It's a quick and easy weekly reminder in your inbox to keep climate issues on your personal agenda, and to hear what's happening about it in the rest of the world. 2. Follow Byron Smith on facebook. Why? Because in order to live with integrity, we need to know the truth. Byron is a public figure and you can follow his profile and see all his posts without friending him. He shares articles and insights about climate change, humanitarian issues, Australian politics and police brutality. I am confronted and convicted by his posts on the daily. Byron is a Christian whose faith motivates him to stand up against injustice, care for all life on earth, and call out our Prime Minister - who claims the same faith. Please PLEASE follow, read and share. It's so important. 3. Install Ecosia as your browser's default search engine (or just go to ecosia.org to search). Why? Because using it is a zero-effort way to trigger tree-planting. Ecosia donates minimum 80% of its ad revenue to reforestation organisations. Since I switched to using it a couple of months ago, the counter in my browser tells me that I've caused 1,233 trees to be planted. By doing nothing different at all! Yes, it takes a little getting used to a new search engine, and OCCASIONALLY I feel like I'll get better results with google, but when that happens I simply use Ecosia to search first and then run another search with google if I need. If you're only going to do ONE of these things? Follow Byron. Now go! Do the things! It will only take five minutes. And you'll be amazed how positive it feels. Keep your chins up and your hearts open. Stand on the edge and trust that it will be okay. Savour that you get to live through this incredible, bizarre time in our history - and let's live through it together. xx Kamina Friends!
I just started watching Glee for the first time ever (currently on Netflix). I thought it was great, then awful, now I've circled back around to great again. The show is 50% musical numbers so on balance, what's not to love? Also, I got a new phone. Having rocked my refurbished iPhone 5 since 2015, I just bought a refurbished iPhone 7 in as-new condition for a heavily discounted price. If you didn't know that refurbished phones were a thing, look into it! It's a great way to upgrade (when you need to) by re-using something that's still perfectly fine. I'll be donating my old phone (which still does basic things, mostly) to the nearby asylum seeker centre, where they have a program for passing on phones to people in need. For anybody not following climate news closely: this week parliament debated the declaration of a climate emergency in Australia, then voted against it. This sounds like bad news, but the fact that the entire Labor party backed the declaration and it warranted a proper debate is ACTUALLY PROGRESS. We'll keep fighting! (Related: how to talk to your local MP.) For those people as anxious as I am: how to use meditation to cope with climate change. In honour of marking season (for those of us who are teachers, academics or university-adjacent): lines from The Princess Bride that double as comments on freshman composition papers. (Sidebar: I hate The Princess Bride. Come at me, I don't care.) Necessary: An instagram account of round animals. Like, round like a circle. ROUND. Some good news out of the USA: this major sporting goods store has voluntarily destroyed $7.4 million worth of semiautomatic guns and is reconsidering the whole idea of selling guns. Yay. I could look at this art all day: sketches of tree silhouettes that look like people. Twisty! "So many things are bewildering, unfathomable, and—at least, on some level—pretty hilarious." Mama Hotdog! I thought this was pretty cool: this First Nations couple were the first in over 100 years (on their land) to wed in a traditional cultural union ceremony. Mary Oliver is my favourite poet and this is one of my favourite poems. I could stop reading after the first line - the deepest needs of my heart are met in those seven words. I love emojis. I love the evolution of language. I love the sentence "If you want to understand how the peach emoji has come to represent both the potential impeachment of President Trump and a butt, you must first look to the ancient Sumerians." So obviously, I love this. And I love you guys. We're all going to be okay. Happiest, happiest weekend! xxx TL;DR: Our politicians work for us, so just start talking to yours; tips for having positive, effective conversations, baby steps if this one is scary for you.
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