The earth shudders to the deep pulse of war
Offset by panic’s painful melody
A hideous wind blows up my leggings
My bones know what the blood moon said to me
But the earth holds the fertile seeds of hope
The germ of life consuming sun and rain
Silently creating flowers and fruit
Sweet juices and warm flesh to heal our pain
The news looks bad. Reality looks worse. We need to hold each other in joy and hope to build a future based on love not fear.
Bad news
The environment movement has shared the danger of our industrial impact on the earth’s systems since Small is Beautiful, Silent Spring, and the Club of Rome’s Limits to Growth. Like so many movements – feminism, land rights, climate chaos, campaigns against deaths in custody, smoking, gambling, and war – we assumed that knowledge would enlighten decision makers and they would sensibly adjust policies to avoid harm.
Some of us marched in the street, others chained themselves to bulldozers, joined political parties, faced down loggers, coal ships and trains, and hardest of all the often hostile police. Still others volunteered for legal services, front line support, community education, supporting those affected, lobbying for change, building community to oppose exploitation and extraction.
Over decades we have seen gradual progress in legal frameworks, community messaging the awareness among new generations of the moral dimension of our greed and wastefulness. In every case, though, we were mostly ill-prepared for the backlash, for the vested interests employing the powerful forces of money, fear, and the comfort of the familiar. And so … the Culture Wars.
In parallel, the inevitable arithmetic of the limits to growth has undermined the social contract that held society together. Good manners and social cohesion require limits on personal freedom that we were prepared to accept when the outcome was that our children would be better off than we were. Now that we reach one planetary limit after another, that promise is broken every day.
As always, the bullies fan the flames of hate, identify someone to blame, and use the anger to trash the commons, dispute the value of community and turn one individual against another. The first casualty of war may be truth, but morality is not far behind, especially those morals that involve kindness and consideration: be hospitable to strangers, share willingly what we have, and love our enemies.
Now, we thunder into World War III, tear up the treaties and laws that provided some constraints on the abuse of power. We raise our fences to protect the little that we have and turn on those among us seeking shelter.
The Seeds of Hope
As we watch this hardening of the collective heart, the sharpening of pitch forks and the lighting of torches, where are the Seeds of Hope?
They are in community, grass roots resilience, the skills we all have to turn our homes into hubs of production, places of refuge, and beacons of love. It seems naïve in such dark times to believe that growing food, repairing clothes, appliances and broken hearts might have some impact, but it is the only hope we have.
The lone student with the shopping bag facing down the tanks is a powerful symbol, and I am not suggesting that his stand was wasted. What I am saying is that we cannot all do that. Even if we did all do that, it would not build the future. We need some people to face down the violence of the State. We need others to tend the hearth, keep the home fires burning and feed the Resistance. Unplugging from the systems that fuels the war machine is not dropping out, it is an act of revolution.
The Event
Come to the Food Connect Shed on Sunday April 26th.
I am working with People for Nature, the Climate Crew and Food Connect to showcase social entrepreneurs, businesses and volunteers who are building an alternative future. They are just as horrified and depressed as you by global events. They have been working for years, though, to build a better future. They can help you find hope, share what they have learned and take heart from your support.
Personally, I see it as the birth of a new clarity. The era of trying to change the old systems from within is behind us. We are learning to work together to build alternatives and we need to learn from each other and do this together.
Seeds of Hope – Food Connect Shed – 26th April 2026
See you there.