May 7, 2023

One idea to keep it slow and simple… Tell a better story

When we speculate, when we imagine, when we make our best guesses, we’re telling ourselves what we expect the future to hold. For children, naturally optimistic, their visions of the future can be a salve—full of clear skies and happy, healthy humans.

Why aren’t adult stories more like that? Whether it’s advertising, corporate messages, or our own limited experience, so many adults see the future as a foregone conclusion.

And yet the future is unwritten. Rebecca Solnit reminds us that “Twenty years ago we did not have constructive ways to leave the age of fossil fuel behind. Now we do. And the solutions keep getting better.”

We don’t know what the future holds for sure, but with collective action, the story is better than you might think. In fact, it’s pretty critical that we all start telling ourselves the better story and acting on it.

Solnit ends her article with this passage, from the speculative fiction author, Octavia Butler:

“OK,” the young man challenged. “So what’s the answer?”

“There isn’t one,” I told him.

“No answer? You mean we’re just doomed?” He smiled as though he thought this might be a joke.

“No,” I said. “I mean there’s no single answer that will solve all of our future problems. There’s no magic bullet. Instead, there are thousands of answers – at least. You can be one of them if you choose to be.”

And some clickable fun

We love to discover and share, so we’ve added three cool clickables. And just so you know, when we list products, it’s just because we like them. We’re not sponsored by anything but our dreams and imaginations.

• In our article on microplastics in the home, we mentioned filters you can add to your washing machine. These two came up in several of the articles we read: Check out Guppyfriend and Cora Ball.

• We’re not going to leave the climate crisis for Gen Z to solve. But Gen Z is already stepping up anyway. Go Z, go!

• Share a poem with the mamas in your life, from our favorite collector of poems, The Poetry Foundation.