Like you, we’ve been feeling the weight of challenging times. Every day’s headlines just seem to add to the burdens of suffering we can see up close and far away: the tolls of extreme weather; the Trump administration’s reckless reversals of progress on climate and clean energy; and ongoing news of terrible violence, starvation, family separations, and the rest.
So our team has been in conversation: What can we be doing in this difficult moment to take care of ourselves and each other? What do folks most need, right now?
One of our team, Erica Crump, had this insight: “Maybe folks just need a care package right now.” We took that as an inspiration.
So, like the care package our colleague Kimberly just sent off to her son about to start college, we have pulled together a few simple examples of things that have brought us some goodness recently, in hopes that at least one of these may turn out to be good for you as well. So from all of us, here are some offerings of ways to take care (and take action):
ERICA: The last few days my children and I have learned how to start an in-house garden. Once a month the elders in my family hop on Zoom to share what they’ve been up to with our entire family. This last meeting concluded with my great aunt B bragging on the potatoes she grew in her ✨sitting room✨. For a while now, we have been meaning to get to the 2025 resolution of growing our own food. After some glitches, user errors on my end, and laughs we got what we needed to begin (as well as some encouragement and wisdom). I’m hopeful to have some spuds sprouting in our home soon. Here is a similar method from one of my fave farmers to follow. This was grounding, connecting and joyful. Just the medicine we didn’t know we needed for these regularly unprecedented times.
NEIKO: I’m finding resilience in the works of thinkers like Adrienne Maree Brown and Octavia Butler. I recommend Brown’s Pleasure Activism: the Politics of Feeling Good, her podcast How to Survive the End of World, and Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy. Collapse is an ongoing process, and finding joy and community in spite of challenging circumstances is a true remedy.
JONATHAN: Last weekend I spent an evening socializing in a friend’s backyard decorated with carpets, throw pillows and strings of lights. She and her housemates had organized an event called “The Party that Everyone Needs.” And somehow, that’s exactly what it turned out to be: a generous spread of homemade food and iced mint tea… that we all needed. Live music… that we all needed. Multigenerational conversations with new and old friends… that we all needed. Everyone seemed to take comfort in realizing that what we all needed was just to enjoy being human together… to appreciate with grace the simple pleasures of living in community, at a time when simply refusing to feel stuck in powerlessness can feel like an act of resistance.
TIFF: Like so many of us, I’ve been feeling a bone-deep pull to surround myself with good. Good people, good food, good sunsets, good nature (all nature is good in my book). But also good news. I’ve stopped with the doom scroll. I no longer listen to the same news story from five different outlets. I’ve made peace with being generally well-informed, rather than hyper-informed. And instead, I’m looking for the lessons that the trees have to teach us. I seek content that makes me feel peace, or joy, or hope, like this: “In stressful times, what do plants and animals have to say” or this monthly Lunar Dispatchby Will Dowd on substack. And when all else fails, I just stick my toes in the dirt and breathe deep.
JOELLE: I am blessed to have a young son, and to get to play with him and his friends. There is nothing more heart-full than listening to a child giggle. I also love to lay on my back and watch the clouds as they dance and make animals and all sorts of imaginative images. My soul is also rejuvenated when I’m in the forest, and when I am in the company of trees and rocks, rivers, birds and animals. When I hug a tree, I feel their wisdom and goodness and it gives me hope.
FROM ALL OF US: If you’re in Washington, please VOTE in the upcoming primary election. And consider donating to grassroots organizations doing crucial work for justice in our communities, including the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition (who just had to cancel their annual summer fundraiser), and the immigrant rights coalition Oregon For All.
We’ll be back with more actions. For now, thank you for all the ways you show up and stay connected with community.
for Climate Solutions’ communications and organizing team:
Kimberly
Jonathan
Juan
Stephanie
Joelle
Neiko
Erica
Tiff
