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I went to the woods

I went to the woods

A Personal Climate Strike

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Please feel welcome to reach out to me for more information about my whereabouts, about the work I do, the people I work with – or in any other case. I am happy to hear from you. Thank you. Tusen takk.

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© Christina Ilchmann

I WENT TO THE WOODS ON INSTAGRAM

This last piece of blackout poetry is the obligatory note of hope. An overwhelming percentage of our media coverage on ecological issues is framed in negative terms. And although the situation is dire, there are roughly three million NGO‘s, community-based initiatives, associations and the like that work on global and local levels to improve the world we live in. Far less media attention is given to these often silent agents of change. If you struggle with eco-grief or anxiety there is a wonderful book, small but powerful. The Field Guide to Climate Grief by Sarah Jaquette Ray (unpaid ad). Ray teaches environmental studies in Arcata, California, and her book addresses the climate generation, born after 1990, that will experience the consequences of ecological disrupture. Her approach is hands on and positive, focused on resilience and engagement, without sugarcoating the severity of the situation. Most importantly, she is aware of the intersectionality of environmental issues, stressing climate justice. What I can say of my experience of morphing papers and articles into poetry is that it is hard and that I don‘t feel comfortable sharing often on Instagram. So I will retreat for a while. Looking forward to writing some real poetry. Thank you for your support and kind words over the course of this project. Stay well.
Day 18 with some new material for doomscrolling. This report from ProPublica and the New York Times Magazine looks at data and prognoses on the landscape of Northern America from 2040 onward. The data was provided by the Rhodium Group, and independent research provider. It looks at extreme heat and humidity, wildfires, flooding, sea level rise, farm crop yields and economic damages.
When the shit hits the fan Silicon Valley will gladly retreat to the epic waterfalls and the rolling hills of Lord of the Rings. This is a 2018 longread from the Guardian, named „Why Silicon Valley billionaires are prepping for the apocalypse in New Zealand“. Day 17 of Blackout Poetry.
How will Kant help us trap carbon dioxide?
Day 15. I advise you to read this paper by Jem Bendell, „Deep Adaption: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy“. Bendell did a cross section of all the data available on the ecological crisis. The data say it is about time to come to terms with some dramatic changes that are likely to happen in our lifetime. No one can predict what‘s going to happen, but there are tendencies and we know the laws of physics. Just because we do not want to grasp the severity of the predicament doesn‘t make it any less urgent. Quite on the contrary, denial only worsens things. I understand that this is hard and uncomfortable and we are in for some dire emotions. Grief, anger, shame, despair, hopelessness, the hole package. This art project is not a way of making time pass. It is an attempt to create space for these emotions. Because they demand this space, and denying it to them does not serve my overall wellbeing anymore. I advice you to read this paper but also to seek a network of people to whom to talk to. There are wonderful groups and support networks out there and I am happy to share them with you. One of them is the Good Grief Network, a peer to peer group, focusing on climate emotions. And you can download Bendell‘s paper for free, following the link.
Day 14 of Blackout Poetry, where I take newspaper articles, papers and sometimes books on the ecological crisis and turn them into, well, poetry. Not the usual Sonnet kind of poetry but a way of digesting news by morphing them into another form. Perhaps closer to text marking. This article is an op-ed by an Indigenous educator and a doctor speaking eloquently about what Covid points towards. In their opinion Covid is a symptom of an exhausted planet. Only if we cultivate (or remember) a more healthy relationship to the very ground we walk on, the air we breathe, the water we swim in and drink and the food we eat, can we keep living here.
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