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Being Hopepunk
Happy 2023! One my favourite nerdy things about New Years is that the dictionaries all announce their Words of the Year. In 2019 the Collins Dictionary’s one was climate strike. I remember scanning the other words on the shortlist – deepfake… influencer… nonbinary… rewilding… until one in particular caught my eye. hopepunk (ˈhəʊpˌpʌŋk) noun: The word was coined by the author Alexandra…
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John Freeman: Redefining Hope
Hello! Welcome (or welcome back) to this blog, my attempt to spread some hope in these troubled times. This week I wanted to share with you a chapter from John Freeman’s Dictionary of the Undoing. The book is made up of 26 reflections on different concepts (alphabetised from “Agitate” to “Zygote”) that Freeman — an anti-Trump activist and literary critic — felt to…
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Salena Godden: Pessimism is for Lightweights
Hello there 🙂 Welcome back to this newsletter — my weekly(ish) attempt to share some hope during our current climate crisis. Last week I had the joy of seeing Salena Godden perform. Salena is a bit of a legend in the poetry world (you’ll see why), and seems to be part of a whole movement of writers,…
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London Burning: Seeds Sprouting
Hello there! Welcome to the fourth edition of this newsletter, my attempt to share a some hope in the midst of the climate crisis. I haven’t been promoting this project very much, so I’m slightly amazed that 52 of you have now signed up!? That’s a lot more people than I was expecting, so thank you. Feel…
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Clover Hogan: When Climate Change Feels Unstoppable
Hello again 🙂 Welcome back to this newsletter, my attempt to find a more hopeful approach to the climate crisis. This week I wanted to show you a TEDTalk by Clover Hogan that went viral last year. Clover is the 21-year-old CEO of Force of Nature, a non-profit that helps young people deal with climate anxiety. The talk is full of amazing…
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Donella Meadows: How to Change a System
Hello! Welcome (or welcome back) to this blog — my attempt to find some hope in these unsettling times. Thank you for all your wonderful responses to the last email I sent, and an especially big thank you to those of you who forwarded it on to friends and family. I hope you’ve all had a good week. Last time,…
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Emily Dickinson: If Bees are Few
Hello there! Welcome to the first edition of this blog. For a little while now I’ve been getting more and more worried about climate change, and I know I’m not alone in that. I’m worried about the planet, but I’m also worried — ironically — about how worried I am. I’m worried that my anxiousness…
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Matt Sowerby 