HoPe?

Hope? Or not to hope? That is the question. Finding the balance between the two – that is the answer.

A long – but comprehensive review worth reading.

100 Days of…Resistance! – “By staying informed, engaged, and refusing to give up or give in to wannabe autocrats, YOU are democracy’s guardrails. AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler delivered the Opening Remarks, and used them to underscore one of my most fervent sentiments: that the day marked not only 100 days of Trump in office, but 100 days of opposition, led by working people, unions, and everyday Americans determined to defend democracy. “The decision to capitulate or resist rests with each of us.”

and this — well, maybe not to hope but tells the truth that might be hard to hear. Hard to have hope if you don’t know what lies ahead.

Sarah Wilson: ‘Worrying about your gut biome when the world’s burning is too indulgent’– “Perhaps paradoxically, what’s most helped her anxiety is delving into the subject of systems collapse. Anxious people, she says, feel at a visceral level “that something’s not quite right”. Researching this topic has been a salve that’s proven, well, something isn’t right – and has brought her its own kind of peace.

• In short: every single – “every single, without exception” – complex civilisation from the Roman and Maya empires to Easter Island, ends up collapsing, generally within 250 to 300 years. Our post-industrial civilisation is now at 270 years and that, coupled with the escalating climate crisis and a host of other factors, suggests, she thinks, that our own collapse is imminent.”
• “The billionaire set will probably be in bunkers”, and the rest of us will have to learn to use remaining resources in cooperative ways. To that end, Wilson recommends what she calls pro-social prepping. “Form communities. Get to know your neighbours – you are going to have to rely on them. Going forward, you’re going to have to share things.”
• PREPARE! We will need to write down a lot of things – phone numbers, addresses, instructions for things. Maps are a good idea. And being able to read one. Kids need to go to Scouts. Adults need to start mucking around with basic life skills, like how to mend things, how to change a tire and plant things, how to camp out, how to collect water.

My family is food prepping at Costco for Trump’s trade war – Shopping in bulk, if you can afford it and have space for the extra produce, will save money in the long run- “I’ve stocked up on seafood, coffee, fresh produce — products expected to see the biggest and most immediate price increases, although it’s hard to estimate exactly which aisles will be most impacted by Trump’s erratic tariff policies.