Last week while celebrating a milestone achievement a friend stated “I can’t believe we’re eating ice cream outside in November without a jacket.” My heart sank at that moment. It was finally setting in for me that on November 5th Donald Trump was elected to be the next president. On my mind was the selection of Lee Zeldin to head up the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Also on my mind was the news on November 6th, when “Earth will exceed 1.5 Degrees Celsius of Warming this year” was the headline in the Scientific American.
It’s understandable that you might be experiencing a wide range of feelings in the wake of this year's election. Anger and frustration, fear and anxiety; these are powerful emotions that arise most powerfully within us at times of substantial consequence. Our climate is in crisis and there is no time to waste.
I hope that like me what you are feeling most of all several weeks out is a deeply rooted resolve. Hope after all, carries power in its own right. It helps us find the courage to stay in the day to day work of building up our democracy and civic life. The news is not all grim after all: I was heartened to read that in the first half of 2024 wind and solar together outproduced coal in the U.S. for the first time (Scientific American).
In the weeks, months and years that lay ahead we will be a force for nature in protecting our communities and our planet. We will oppose rollbacks of environmental protections at the EPA, protect our forests and the biodiversity nature depends upon, and lift up our voice to protect the communities we are part of, connected to and care about. A good place to start is right here in Indiana. With the Indiana legislative session approaching you can take action locally with our Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter community as we mobilize to meet the big polluter agenda. Register here for our Seeds of Democracy: Legislative Teams Time.
At Sierra Club when we head outdoors, we follow the trails with confidence that we will find our way out of the wilderness again. In the years to come we can find confidence by building the resilient community connections that, like the familiar pathways that guide us through the forest, will help us find our way forward to a more just and sustainable world.
Robyn Skuya-Boss
Chapter Director