Should we still be doing this?
I've been rumbling with that question for the past week.
I was deep in the midst of launch event prep. Thinking about catering and getting Climatics themed nail polish, imagining how the Auckland Street Choir were going to absolutely shine as they sang Everybody Wants to Rule the World. Basically just manifesting the whole night's vibe into existence through sheer optimism. The normal, exciting and whimsical stuff that makes all the volunteer hours feel worth it.
Nek minnit, the missiles started raining down in the Middle East.
A friend of mine from that very region of the world is staying with me right now. He was meant to be leaving this week, but it appears the world had other plans. We've been sitting at my kitchen table watching the news together, my friend messaging family, me not quite knowing what to say. His visit has flipped upside down in a moment cos the world rearranged itself, and we just gotta sit with that uncertainty and see what happens.
In the middle of all of that, I had a party to organise. It felt weird. And then someone asked me ‘what’s the point of climate action in NZ, when there are missiles flying everywhere?’
And I was pretty surprised to discover that I actually had an answer to that.
The Climatics exists because we believe that everyday people, acting collectively, can back the kind of climate solutions that shift systems. Our belief doesn't pause because terrible things are happening. If anything, I feel that when the world feels most chaotic, these are the moments when it matters most to keep tending to the things we can actually do something about. Climate change isn't waiting. The organisations we funded in our first round aren't waiting. And, after last night, it seems that our community, the people who engage, donate, share, and care, aren't waiting either.
So we had the gig. And it was so lovely. Our grantees spoke about their work, the Auckland Street Choir sang, my friend came along, and at one point, I saw him properly laugh at something and thought to myself, yep, this too is important.
And for me, the last few days of intense international news have been a good reminder that my nervous system is SO not built for this. Not just for this week's bad news cycle, but for the relentless accumulation of it all. I mean, the world didn’t just start feeling heavy on Saturday. It's been a bunch of stuff coming at us for years now…. pandemic, political upheaval, adverse weather events, economic pressure, other wars, and now this. Wave after wave, kinda no real pause to recover.
It's no wonder that some of us have developed a certain numbness to it. I know I have. And that's what happens when a human nervous system gets overloaded for long enough. We go a bit blank. Tuning out. Or doom-scrolling aimlessly. Or saying "ugh, the news" and closing the app and still feeling vaguely terrible anyway.
So I've been trying to actively slow things down. Remembering to breathe… like properly, not just technically! Watching the moon rise. Tuning in for amazing events like the lunar eclipse. Taking longer to make coffee than is really necessary. My own small (and often slightly mystical) acts of self-preservation that don't fix anything but appear to be working in keeping me as a functional human being.
And The Climatics first ever official gig was part of that too. Sharing the room with people who want to keep doing something, instead of disappearing into helplessness, overwhelm or numbness. I could be biased, but I reckon our wee gig replaced helplessness with hope. The vibe was amazing, and it reconfirmed for me that tending to my corner of the world in the company of others is the best medicine.
It’s late now, the lunar eclipse is almost upon me, and I don’t actually have a conclusion here. I don’t think this moment calls for one either. I’m focusing on what I do have and right now, that is a gig that happened and was SO worth having. The Climatics are growing a beautiful community, we’re supporting grantees doing super important work, and I’m supporting a friend at my kitchen table who is way further from home than they expected to be right now.
I sure as heck don’t have it all figured out. And that’s cool, I just take one day at a time. One corner of my community at a time. Stopping right now really doesn't feel like an option.
