“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.” ~ Elie Wiesel
“What, exactly, does a survivable future look and feel like? And why have we so far proved unwilling to adapt our lifestyles and demand the policies that are needed to achieve it? … An ambitious new project in Sweden is … developing an unexpected tool that could enable the public to grasp the practical steps that would lead to more sustainable societies: storytelling. Telling tales might seem an odd priority in a fast-transforming climate but … [Chief Storyteller Per] Grankvist insisted that such an approach was vital, for the simple reason that facts alone are not something people engage with.” (Gratitude to grist.org for reproducing this exhilarating CityLab story as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.)
The “storytelling” initiative in Sweden is such a wonderful synchronicity for me. Over the past year or so, I have felt intuitively drawn to invest a considerable amount of love and energy in writing a fiction story (a novel) that revolves around themes of permaculture, low-footprint living, resilience (personal, social, ecological). The story has a strong comic element which I did not initially set out to create, but which lends a nice balance to the seriousness of the themes. The rough draft is finished and I plan to self-publish the novel later this year. Stay tuned for announcements!