Tag Archives: despair

“Making Peace With Extinction” by Dayan Martinez

As news of the climate crisis and mass extinction currently underway underscore the gravity of the moment, it is natural to turn toward despair and defeat. However, taking a deep-history perspective, which includes five other mass extinctions and re-frames our role and participation in worldwide ecosystems helps to move beyond grief. We enter a dynamic peace where our present blessings and future joys can dialog with the deep, ancestral history of extinction and apocalypse on Planet Earth, through our varied consciousness and experiences. We learn to speak with and through the pain of loss, and hopefully, to transmute this apocalyptic moment into a different tomorrow, beyond disaster.

Why I am not a “Doomer”

I’m not going to try to tell you where to focus your energy. But I will say this, if your choice is being motivated by a fear of despair, if you are fighting down a feeling of hopelessness, consider letting yourself feel it. Really feel it. Trust that there is wisdom in all of our feelings, even the dark ones, maybe especially the dark ones. And see where it takes you.

Part 5 of the Halstead-Green debate

All honest environmental activists will feel despair at some point. The solution isn’t to run from it, or repress it, or deny it. There’s only one way to deal with despair, and that’s to go though it. We have to feel our feelings. Despair can be a teacher. It can lead us to a greater wholeness, more compassion, and a deeper sense of purpose.

Beyond Doom: A Response to Mark Green

I’m not going to try to tell you where to focus your energy. But I will say this, if your choice is being motivated by a fear of despair, if you are fighting down a feeling of hopelessness, consider letting yourself feel it. Really feel it. Trust that there is wisdom in all of our feelings, even the dark ones, maybe especially the dark ones. And see where it takes you.