No ifs, ands, or buts about it - it's been a shitty two weeks, not only with the election results but also with the hate spewing out of those who supported this slimebag, watching the corporate media continue to normalize the Orange Bigot while far too many big-donor-funded Dems push 'centrism' which is actually, if you look at history, closer to conservatism. (Little bitta trivia: Republican President Eisenhower said, "Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history." My how times have changed.)
So with that, here are my monthly bunch of happy things that we desperately need to celebrate as the darkness looms in so many other ways...
1) Salmon are coming home. I mentioned the removal of the dam on the Klamath River in my home state of Oregon...and just months later, the results are making me emotional in how beautifully fast the area has sprung back to life because finally, after decades upon decades of work from indigenous communities, they've got the proof even faster than anyone could have imagined that IT WORKS.
2) Sometimes the solutions are unsexy and that's just fine. In 2009 I was working with my Energy Efficiency manager when I worked for the federal government, and he taught me all about the Smart Grid technologies he was trying to get approval to hire for. Who'd have known it'd take 15 years later to see real action on this - but I'm so glad it has. California is, through 'reconductoring', upgrading their transmission lines as part of SmartGrid improvements to prepare for increased electrical needs. As Electrek describes, "All of this should not only increase California’s grid capabilities and make it more ready for the future, it should also lower electricity prices...A report from April said that widespread use of advanced conductors could increase the pace of new transmission capacity by 4x by 2035."
3) Meeting people where they are is not just a political meme, it's why fighting the climate crisis is a nonpartisan, economic necessity. The Guardian reports how Australia has shown the tremendous financial GAIN of transitioning to green power and the green jobs that support this change. The Investor Group on Climate Change, which represents the retirement accounts of 15M+ Australians, is leading the charge. As one Aussie from Adelaide, who went from building gas-powered Holdens to building solar farms said, "“I still love the smell of petrol, I just love the smell of success more.”
4) Rainwater collection to the rescue in Asheville! After the horrors of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and surrounding states were shared on the news, including the lack of clean drinking water, the first thing I mentioned to my husband was, "I wonder how many folks have rainwater collection tanks, barrels, cisterns, etc. with filtration...and if it's being subsidized in any way (because it should)?" So I looked it up, and sure enough, Jose Andres and the World Central Kitchen were doing their usual eco-heroics, this time with water, helping restaurants "acquire cisterns and pumps, covering the initial costs so the restaurants could help prepare and serve meals." While All Day Darling, one of the businesses, has since reopened, they are still using their 2,500 gallon cistern with pump. LOVE IT. (PS - to envision how big this tank is, here's a link to our 1,000 gallon cistern on the farm that watered our garden and filled our duck's pool all year long)
5) And finally? It's autumn in the Pacific Northwest, where the starlings are "murmuring" everywhere imaginable, including in the place we spent several years on our farm.. Along the mighty Columbia, below you can see one of those examples of nature's tremendous beauty, captured by a local photographer...
Love it all ( and I could spend hours watching starling murmurations)