Living with radical hope
It would appear that the news about our climate emergency gets worse with each passing day. There's the heatwave in the northern Baltic Sea which in recent weeks is the longest ever recorded, all-time highs in Switzerland, the hottest winter days on record in Bolivia and Paraguay, and water temperatures up to 7 degrees Fahrenheit above normal along the Northern and Central California coast.
Every day, we hear about extreme, dangerous, and historic climate events that are very often difficult to fully grasp and comprehend. Besides the increasing number of heatwaves, there's the rise in atmospheric CO2 levels, severe droughts, the disappearance of lakes and rivers, and severe flooding. And with the growing challenges of climate change have come a growing sense of feeling overwhelmed, and emotionally struggling with a very confusing and uncertain future.
So many of us are experiencing more anxiety and stress about a climate reality that is increasingly impacting how and where we live. It's forcing us to question who we are and what we do. This new reality is triggering our collective despair about what we'll be facing in the coming years.
In the conclusion to her book Let This Radicalize You, coauthor Marianne Kaba wrote, "Despair is a thief. It saps your energy, depletes your time, and robs you of your ability to dream. And we need lots of dreamers and doers right now." Kaba explained that hope is not just a metaphor but something we have to practice and live every day. It's not just an emotion but more importantly a discipline.
Could our future be for the dreamers and doers? For those of us who can become critical thinkers and tough-minded. For those who can find the strength and determination to face up to the climate reality of the new world while, at the same time, seeing the many possibilities for a more resilient and promising future.
The authors of Let This Radicalize You talk about hope coming through and from taking action. There is a call to imagine and invest in a new vision and a new way of living.
"We must relearn how to hold space and belief together in ways that anchor us to each other and to our collective moral commitments."
Where are our spaces to imagine and invest in a new way of living? What do we need to relearn to anchor ourselves to each other? How can you and I take action to bring hope to our communities?
Lauren Alexandra, in her 2021 commencement address to Antioch University's Graduate School of Leadership and Change, talked about the inherent need for hope in the face of daunting challenges.
"Radical hope is aimed hope, directed to what some might consider utopian futures based on an understanding of the past and a critical awareness of the present," stated Alexandra. She argued that radical hope is about inspired collective action.
Considering that the Latin origin of radical is the word "root," maybe, radical hope is at the root of who we are and what makes us whole: to be connected, to be compassionate and to be creative in how we care for and celebrate everything that brings us all together.
And it all comes from being grounded and nourished by what we most value and love, and using them as guideposts to building a more vibrant and healthier world. To collectively engage this climate reality, explore how to protect and honor what we care about and cherish, and then empower ourselves to practice and live with hope each day.
In the introduction to his book Realism And The Climate Crisis: Hope For Life, John Foster wrote, "The possibility of hope is now the central question of our time. That is because it is crucial to the climate crisis, which is our time's overwhelming urgent challenge." Foster argued that hope in our future is not optional but is truly needed to fuel what he called our "creative power" and "collaborative persistence" to cultivate a deeper understanding and appreciation for what we must undertake to serve and support our communities in the coming years.
How do we live with radical hope? To believe that we belong to the world and not that the world belongs to us. To see that we are not alone but connected in so many different ways to everything around us. To embrace the inherent worth of all living beings.
To explore and critically reflect upon how we can lead more resilient and meaningful lives in a climate-change world, and then make radical choices to redefine ourselves, renew our spirits and then reclaim our common bonds with the global community.
Mark Nepo, in his book Surviving Storms: Finding The Strength To Meet Adversity, wrote, "To be truly radical is to work with care and respect toward uncovering our common, human roots."
Radical hope is to be inspired.
Radical hope is to be present and available to others.
Radical hope is to be in the community.
Radical hope is to find meaning in every moment.
Radical hope is to love and cherish all living beings.
How can you live with radical hope today?
The author of this article, Tone Lanzillo, American writer and journalist, is a member of the Loaves and Fishes Community in Duluth, a live-in volunteer at the Dorothy Day House, an active part of the Duluth/365 initiative, and is a key part of our team here at The Human Exploring Society.