something i struggle with these days, as a millenial who has lived through greenwashing and carbon credits- is hope an op? are we getting peddled idealism and hope to cover for us being well and truly screwed?
i love this blog so much and i want to have optimism but i’m also so, so scared that this is a dupe, another shell (not u but like in general)
how do you combat that? how do you push past that?
Hi Anon,
This is a great question and definitely a not-uncommon feeling. I do sometimes get the not-so-nice version of this sentiment expressed at me in angry asks accusing me of lying or being paid to say the things I say.
I think that a confluence of factors, including the manufactured climate denial that got us where we are now, has understandably made a lot of people suspicious of hope in general. That if someone disagrees that everything is irredeemably broken beyond the point of trying to fix it, that if they say good things can happen sometimes, they are complicit in letting everything that is problematic and awful and unfair in our world off the hook.
Comic by Tom Gauld
While there is certainly old-fashioned climate denialism still out there, many entities with a vested interest in stalling climate action have switched their narrative to “it’s too late to be worth doing anything”. They’ve changed from blind, passive optimism to blind, passive pessimism, but it has the same impact of suppressing action. Dr. Simon Clark has a great in-depth video about this.
One quick test for possible manipulation is to think about what tangible action a message is likely to encourage and who that would benefit. Hope, or at least the kind of hope I try to promote on this blog, is not “things will get better no matter what we do”—that is blind optimism. Hope is “we can make things better through our actions”.
I’ve gotten many asks from folks telling me this blog inspired them to start environmental careers or volunteering that they previously felt too hopeless to pursue—and from people who felt the good news helped them pull out of a mental health spiral and get back to their lives. Dr. Hannah Ritchie, a climate change sustainability researcher at Oxford and Our World in Data, nearly did not go into the environmental field because she felt so overwhelmed by doomerism. I do not think hope prompts the kind of actions that the people who would dupe us and stall climate action are going for.
That being said, I do very much understand that knee-jerk, wary feeling. A dear family member recently got me the book How to Fall in Love With the Future by climate activist Rob Hopkins, which imagines various hopeful futures that could exist when we take positive environmental action and discusses how doing so can help us commit to fighting for those futures. Some of these radically hopeful futures made me so uncomfortable that I had to take a break from reading. Something about imagining things going really well felt unsafe or irresponsible, like it was too painful to open myself up to hoping for something so good.
Engaging with hope and the imperfect, complicated work of trying to make things better comes with uncertainty and uncertainty is scary. Sometimes certainty feels safer and more in-control even if it’s a negative certainty. I don't have any easy tips for getting over that hump, but I do think it helps to acknowledge that the hump is there and that it comes from a place of understandable fear and pain. Give yourself space and patience in letting those emotions run their course. It's a process for me as well.
Something I can say with complete certainty is that the future will be better than it otherwise would have been if we believe we have the power to make it better.
I hope this helps you trust the hope at least a little more, Anon. <3
i just saw news that apparently, we’ve officially lost the war against climate change. i’m really terrified right now, and honestly might be having an anxiety attack. i don’t know. a world renowned environmentalist said it’s over. that it’s just over and that the world will keep getting worse. i’m sos cared right now. i don’t know what to do
From googling, it looks like you're talking about what David Suzuki said, right?
So, I'm not going to sugar-coat it, he's making a valid point with the information he's using. Mainly, that last year, for the first time, we surpassed that limit of 1.5C that the Paris climate accords set. And secondly, that political and economic will is still severely lagging behind the will of the people when it comes to taking action.
That being said! Suzuki also said he's not giving up. He's not saying "it's over" or even that the world is just going to get worse. He said he's given up on politics solving it, which is fair. He believes the real action has to come from communities now, which has shown to be more effective anyway. And, given we'll likely surpass 1.5C, we need to think about how to deal with that, rather than just preventing it. What are our plans to preserve ecosystems and protect against natural disasters with that in mind? It's saddening, but also pragmatic. We do have to deal with the reality at hand.
I would say, think of this less as waving the white flag of surrender, and more like re-adjusting the plan after a key part of it failed.
It's also worth noting that 1.5C was sort of the "extra safe" measure. 2C is most commonly cited as the catastrophic global tipping point. 1.5C was meant to undershoot that, and preserve some more fragile systems.
Which, importantly, means its survivable. We're going to lose things, people will die, and every executive who lobbied for this should be held accountable for that. But it's not going to be a movie apocalypse, we won't be dying out on a dead planet. If the great oxidation event couldn't kill life on Earth, we won't. Life will continue, just in a different way. It would be tragic, but not the end.
There's also a scenario where we surpass that threshold, but then fall under it again as more and more renewables replace fossil fuels. Which has been happening! China is heavily investing in renewables right now, and renewables generated more power than coal last year. We're also getting better at protecting species, especially by involving Indigenous peoples and local communities.
When we started realizing what was happening, warming was projected to be 4C by 2100. Now it's between 2.5-3C. That's still catastrophic, but consider that we cut the projection by a whole degree or more, even with slow, uneven, lackluster action.
Every 0.1C we avoid is millions of lives potentially saved, ecosystems that might make it long enough to adapt, coastlines that won't be lost completely. That still matters. Even if we surpass 1.5, 2, 2.5. We have to keep working, even if the future doesn't look ideal. We owe it to the world, each other, and ourselves.
Grumpy yandere who’s always glaring at other people and everyone too scared to even approach him. Who’s always rolling his eyes and grumbling when you accuse him of being a softy on the inside but his arguments don’t hold up when he gently pets your head when you doze off on his shoulder, or when you lean down to pick up something you dropped under the table and his palm covers the edge to protect your head from bumping into it.
Grumpy yandere who holds you as you cry over another guy, scolding you and saying “I told you so” he acts like this was expected and that you should have known better but his hand flexes and slightly trembles as he tries to contain his anger.
The next day you you see angry red marks covering his knuckles and a strange text from your ex where he apologizes profusely.
You haven’t changed your mind. He is a softie on the inside but he’s still terrifying….
Serial killer yandere who’s out spilling blood in the dead of night. He comes back home with the screams of his victims still ringing in his head, slowly cracking the bedroom door open to not wake you up, it’s actually a scary sight. A tall dark looming figure lingering around the doorframe. It would scare you if you weren’t used to this by now.
You sit up and reach over to turn on the small lamp on your bedside table. You take one look at him and narrow your eyes, shoving the blanket off your body and making your way over to him, you lightly smack him on his shoulder and his entire body slumps, looking like a kicked puppy “You got blood on your shirt again?! I told you to be careful! and what’s this? Oh my- what happened to your hand?!” you scold him and he pouts; moving closer to sneak his arms around your waist and burry his face in your neck “I’m sorry darling..” he murmurs “I’ll be more careful I promise. Please don’t be angry with me..” He plants soft kisses on your neck and you relent, sighing and rolling your eyes “Fine. Go take a shower. I’m gonna stay up for a while longer.”
This ruthless killer who can crush someone skull with his bare hands can’t bare to make you angry.
He might be the most terrifying thing someone could encounter on the streets but at home, all he wants is to have your attention, your touch, everything you have to offer.
Popular yandere who’s always so fucking perfect. Perfect smile, perfect words, perfect manners. He always had to act perfect but around you…he could just be him. You didn’t expect anything of him. When he’s around you he feels like he’s completely undone. All the restraints that kept him in check all this time completely gone.
He loves you. He loves you so much. He likes that he’s a nervous stuttering mess around you. That you call him cute when he’s too drunk to say a coherent sentence. That you look at him with those understanding eyes and gently caress his hand when he confides in you about his pressure, all that his family expects of him. What the public expects of him. If it were anyone else they would have told him “how good he has it” or that “he shouldn’t complain so much because some people have it worse”.
You listen. You treat him like he’s an actual human. He’s addicted to how he feels when he’s with you and if anyone gets in his way he might just burn it all to the ground. The cars, the mansions, the expensive clothes, all the connections he made. Just to stay in your embrace.
He doesn’t care if everyone leaves his side. They never meant anything to him. As long as you stay by his side he’s the happiest man ever.
Ex soldier yandere who’s seen so much pain in his life. Who’s experienced so much loss and so much hurt he can’t even feel anymore. He spends most of his time drinking and being a complete and total ass to anyone who approaches him. It annoys him that people can be all smiles and giggles when there’s nothing to smile about. That’s just how life is.
And you annoyed him most of all. You approached him one evening while he was drinking in that one dark corner of the bar and something about you made him tick. You had such a bright gleam in your eye and you looked so innocent approaching him out of everyone in that damn bar. As if you actually believed there’d be good in him.
He hated it.
He was meaner than usual that day. He’d usually throw a gruff “leave me alone.” and it’d get the job done but for some reason you pressed all his buttons when you barely even did anything. He figured it didn’t matter as long as it got the job done and it did. You left with your shoulders slumped a pout on your face and he was alone once again.
Except you returned the next day and the day after that and every other day. It unnerved him so much he decided to switch to another bar. So there he was drinking alone in another gloomy bar in a similar dark corner. Everything is exactly how it should be.
Except..it wasn’t. Something felt wrong. A nagging feeling in his chest, something he hasn’t felt before. He looked at the empty chair besides him and your absence gutted him. So he gulped down the last of his drink and made his way back to his old bar where he found you sitting in his usual spot with random man sitting too close besides you, not hiding his intentions at all. And you..you were sad. You were throwing polite smiles at the man but he could tell by your eyes that you were sad.
Did you really have that look on your face because he didn’t show up?
For some reason the thought of him being the one to bring you such sadness made his heart ache. Another thing he hasn’t felt in a long time.
So he pursed his lips and made his way to you, and from his peripherals he noticed how you straightened up and your face lit up as soon as you saw him but he kept his eyes on the man sitting besides you.
He roughly smacks a hand on his shoulder making him jump in his seat “She’s with me. Get your ass out of my chair.” The man narrowed his eyes ready to spit out a reply but ended up pursing his lips and getting up quietly after taking a look at his size. One thing that hasn’t changed about him after going to war is his build. Something that comes in handy in situations like this.
He plops down in his chair with a sigh and gestures to the bartender to get him his usual. You readjust in your seat and flash him a smile “you’re here!” He throws you a glance “Of course I’m here why wouldn’t I be.” you shrug and look down bashfully “I dunno I thought I freaked you out and made you switch to another bar.” He smile softly. You nearly did “No..no. I’m here.” And he’s not leaving you ever again. You nod and start your usual ramblings of your day. He guessed that was the official moment you became his ‘drinking buddy’ as you called your self.
He thought you were annoying at first. You just wouldn’t stop talking. Telling him about your day when he didn’t even ask. But slowly he started looking forward to hearing your voice. It became the only thing that got him through his bleak days. You became the one who got him through all of his darkness. Like a tiny crack of light that slowly get bigger and bigger until it’s all he could see. You wormed your way into his heart.
His short grunts turned into him comfortably talking to you and the soft smile he’d usually hide behind his glass glass turned into grins. He was smiling so damn much round you. Something he hasn’t done in years. And neither of you noticed the side long stares the bartended and some of the regulars exchanged as they witness this change in him. He’s gotten a reputation of being this grumpy man who’s always drunk and glares at anyone who even talks to him until you came along and suddenly he’s gone soft on you.
Only you of course.
His sunshine. His beautiful darling who’ll make it all better.
You made him alive again. You made him feel again. And he’ll be damned if you ever try to leave his side.
I've got an idea, can you do something like the reader is mad at Sherlock and won't talk to him and he is doing something like drugging himself or taking excessive work load that's basically killing him and reader sees no choice but to go back to him? It's inspired by The lying detective episode obviously.
🍄 Pairing: Sherlock Holmes x Reader
🍄 Genre: Angst/Fluff
🍄 Summary: When Sherlock makes a grave mistake, can he come back from his error or has he lost you forever?
🍄 Word Count: 1824
🍄 Abbreviations: N/A
🍄 Warnings: Canon drug use by Sherlock
🍄 Note: Sorry this took so long to get here, I hope this is what you were looking for Anon!
He hadn’t meant it. Surely he hadn’t. Then again it was Sherlock. Did he ever actually think about his actions before doing them or did they just happen without thought of the fallout. Your life had hung in the balance as you had been used as a pawn. A pawn in one of his cases. As if your life had meant nothing to him, you were just a means to an end. Even now looking into his eyes, the fire burning in yours, there was no remorse, no regret.
“You are clearly overreacting to a situation that was completely in my control-”
“I don’t care if it was in your ‘control’ Sherlock. You put my life in danger!” you argued back angrily. “Do you not understand that? If one thing, just one, had gone wrong, I could have died.”
“But you didn’t die.” He responded flatly, with no ounce of emotion in his tone. It was almost as if he hadn’t heard what you had said. As if he hadn’t comprehended the severity of the situation. Or he simply didn’t care. A thought that shattered your heart into a million pieces.
“Is that seriously all you have to say?” you asked, voice now taking on a broken tone. “You don’t care do you? What would you have done if I had drunk it? If I had drunk that poison?” you waited. Waited for a reasonable answer, an answer that showed he cared. An answer that proved he actually felt something for your life.
“But you didn’t. I controlled it. And if you had, by some miraculous idiocy on your part. Then you wouldn’t be having this erratic display of emotions that are clearly unnecessary.” You blinked. Idiocy. Your idiocy. Not his. Not his mistake. Not a reasonable mistake on his part. No. Your idiocy. You had no words. Nothing you could think of in your mind that could explain the rush of emotions swimming through you. To describe the hurt, the pain, the heartbreak at his words.
“Right,” you whispered. Your eyes brimmed as you silently grabbed your bag, stuffing your phone into the side pocket and grabbing your keys from the table. Your body turned towards the door, not bothering to take a second glance at the man you had spent four years loving with every fiber of your being. Not bothering to answer his call as he shouted down the stairs of 221B asking where you were going. Not bothering to reply to John as you passed him in the doorway asking you if everything was okay. Your feet moved on autopilot. Your phone buzzed in your bag as you walked.
You had walked for hours, going nowhere specific, with no end goal in mind. Your tears had since dried against your cheeks, your skin flushed from the cold. You hadn’t checked your phone, you knew that the texts and calls had come from John, you doubted any were from Sherlock. As he has explained quite clearly, he hadn’t done anything wrong. Your feet fell to a stop as you stared at the figure in front of you. His eyes, usually cold, held a warmth of understanding as he looked at you, his fingertips twisting the umbrella in circles.
“What did my dear brother do this time?” The light smirk on his lips was just for show. You had known Mycroft long enough to recognise his facade. Despite being the ‘ice man’ Mycroft had come to like you. You were his favourite goldfish in a pond of goldfish.
“He could’ve killed me.”
Weeks. Radio silence. He knew Mycroft had something to do with it. He knew that Mycroft had covered your tracks somehow. You weren’t answering his texts, his calls. You weren’t at your apartment. Your landlord had said something about a suitcase and leaving late in the evening. You were still paying the rent but you weren’t there. He had tried your work next. An extended leave of absence. John had been badgering you about taking some time off for a while, you had been saving up your holiday days since you had started at the library, that seemed to have paid off now you wanted to disappear.
He knew going to Mycroft would be futile. He should have known that Mycroft was helping you in some way. ‘She’s safe.’ That's all he said. He knew where you were. He knew and he wouldn’t tell Sherlock, no matter how much he asked.
He didn’t know when the smoking started again, he couldn’t pinpoint it with his hazy mind, the cocktail of drugs dulling the loud voices in his head. Dulling the memory of the argument. Sherlock had been over the argument exactly twenty-three times since you walked out and he realised you were missing. Each time left him just as confused as the last. Why were you so upset? You had been in the firing line on numerous cases, some worse than this. So why did this upset you so much?
“Because this time, she wasn’t complicit in your act.” The tone of his brother's droning voice echoed behind him. “It seems you have finally pushed away the one person who could stand your games without being affected. How does that feel, Sherlock, knowing Y/N is gone?” Sherlock twisted angrily only to find an empty doorway. “Must feel agonising knowing you don’t know where she is and I do.” He spun back towards the windows, the voice moving with every breath. But again, there was nothing. Sherlock stood, pacing, his eyes darting across every corner of the room. “You lost her. Sherlock. Now you’re all alone. Again. In a world full of goldfish who can’t stand you.” Sherlock whipped back and forth as the voice continued to taunt him.
Finally his hands grasped the cup that had sat on the mantlepiece. The milky coffee had turned an awful green colour, with fur growing steadily on the surface. He hurled the cup against the wall with a loud smash, mouldy coffee spreading across the sofa. His hands grabbed anything within reach, hurling it at the voice wherever it moved.
The banging and crashing echoed through 221B, so loud that Sherlock didn’t even hear his flatmate speaking on the phone urgently.
‘He needs you.’ The words spun around your mind continuously on the ride to 221B. You hadn’t hesitated. You hadn’t argued. You hadn’t reminded Mycroft of the hurt Sherlock had caused you. You just moved. Just as you had that night. Just as you did whenever he needed you. Your heart couldn’t take ignoring him when he was in need. Was he an idiot? Yes. Had he hurt you unimaginably? Yes. Did you love him? Yes. You hadn’t answered John’s texts telling you how Sherlock was beside himself, you hadn’t answered Mrs Hudson, or Molly or Lestrade. But Mycroft. Mycroft always believed in some ways he was above Sherlock. There was no denying that Mycroft often enjoyed teasing and taunting Sherlock. And if he asked you to help his brother, then there was something seriously wrong.
The cab had arrived at Baker Street in the late evening, the lights in 221B still on despite the time. Mycroft’s car sat outside the home of your detective, the front door open as he stood in the doorway, his eyes waiting for your arrival. The second the cab stopped, the shouting echoed down onto the street. Your feet sped forwards taking you up the stairs, you didn’t listen to Mycroft as he tried to explain. You didn’t stop when you found John standing outside the door of 221B using the slab of wood as a shield. Another smash. A crash. A shout.
You nudged John aside, despite his protests, and pushed the door of the flat open. The flat you had once called home, a safe place after a case, a place for you and Sherlock to talk about his cases, was now reduced to rubble. You dreaded to think what Mrs Hudson would say if she saw it. You assumed she hadn’t since the light under the door of her flat was still off. She has spent the weekend on a holiday with her friends.
Your eyes scanned the mess for your detective. His chest heaved his eyes frantic, his hand reaching for whatever was in reach. His gentle curls which usually framed his face, stuck in all directions. It broke your heart all over again.
“What did you take?” Your voice seemed to cut through whatever was happening in his mind, his eyes finding you.
“Y-You, you’re not here-”
“What did you take, Sherlock?” When he didn’t answer, you stepped closer, your hands reaching for his, and gently prying his grip off of the controller which was already damaged, you knew this wasn’t the first time the controller was being launched across the flat. The mirror had a massive crack in it and you didn’t have the time to count all of the different breakages and smashes filling the place.
The second your skin touched his, he snapped. His chest slowing, his eyes focusing on you.
“I’m here, right here with you, okay?” you spoke slowly and softly. “What did you take?”
His hand fumbled with the corner of his pocket and you slipped the folded paper out, eyes breaking their gaze from his for a moment as you scanned the list. You reached back and handed it to John and Mycroft who had joined him in the doorway. You guided Sherlock to the coffee stained sofa, sitting him on the corner. “When did you take it?”
“L-Lunch.” he mumbled. “The voices wouldn’t stop-” His body slumped forwards, his forehead dropping to your shoulder as you balanced his weight.
“John, could you take him whil-”
“No, no!” Sherlock tightened his grip on your hands. “Stay.” You nodded.
“John, could you grab me the Naloxone? It should be in the second drawer of the right nightstand.” You instructed with a smile.
“I’m not leaving, okay?”
“I-I sorry,” Sherlock mumbled against your shoulder. “I hurt you. I nearly- sorry.” You knew it wasn’t perfect, you knew it wasn’t an ideal apology. But it was Sherlock. It didn’t matter how he said it, as long as he said it. He didn’t apologise. It wasn’t like him. So he meant it. But as John returned with the Naloxone shot, you forgave him. As you cleaned up the flat whilst he slept on the couch, you continued returning to him as he reached out in his sleep. Because he meant it. No one else would forgive him like you did, because no one else knew and loved him like you did.
He still had some groveling to do, but he’d do it in his own way. When he was sober, when he knew what was real. And you’d forgive him. Because he was your detective. He made mistakes, he made errors but you’d love him through them.
