MelindaTuhus.net
Connect with me on Social Media
  • Home
  • Body of Work
  • Blog
  • Contact

A little birdie told me...

5/25/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture
After Trump was elected and especially after he was inaugurated, I spent several months working madly on a range of issues, focusing on refugees, immigrants, health care and pipelines (indigenous rights and climate). I felt super motivated and like I was part of a rising tidal wave of opposition to his anti-human (except for the 1%) and anti-all other living things agenda. Some of my friends and just folks I know in the progressive community were shell-shocked, depressed and didn’t know what to do. I told them I didn’t know how long I could keep it up (we were just three months into what’s supposed to be a four-year term), but for the time being I was good.

Then sometime in May I hit a wall. I felt very tired and needed to sleep more than usual. I wasn’t exactly depressed; it was more a feeling of being at loose ends and seeing the enormity of the task at hand and feeling lost in it all.

At the same time, I started noticing the life around me more – or rather, the life around me got in my face. On a hike, a scarlet tanager sat on a branch a few feet away and serenaded us (pictured above, not a photo I took because I preferred just looking with my eyes). Then on two bird hikes in a row, many beautiful and not that common (at least to me) birds flew all around me or perched for minutes at a time on branches where we got a perfect view of them: orioles, indigo buntings, bluebirds, green herons, black and white warblers, rose-breasted grosbeaks and many more. Then while on my bike yesterday I saw a great blue heron fly overhead, its neck extended and its legs? And two weeks in a row, I spotted a big, orangey-eared coyote, once crossing a road and the other time in a field five miles away. I’d never seen one in Connecticut before.

But I didn’t just observe these creatures – I felt like I was part of nature, just one species among many. I wasn’t out to kill them or deprive them of food or habitat. I was just sharing Earth with them. It was a very peaceful and even hopeful feeling.

I hope I can hold onto it to keep me going forward in the work ahead.

Click here for the interview I did with the lead plaintiff in the Juliana v Trump case of 21 children and youth suing the U.S. government over climate change.

And click here for the latest nonviolent direct action by Beyond Extreme Energy as five people disrupted the Senate hearing on the nominations of two Trumpistas to join the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which currently lacks a quorum. We want to keep it that way as long as possible, in order to minimize the destruction to communities and climate that FERC enables.

2 Comments
Debra Cohen
5/25/2017 07:34:16 pm

I'd love to experience a walk with you. My guess is that you draw the good energy toward you!

Reply
Patricia Kane
5/28/2017 06:06:35 am

Nature is healing.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Melinda Tuhus

    Welcome to my blog, Leaves and Fishes. It connotes that I'll  often be blogging about environmental issues, though certainly not exclusively. It also references the idea that when people pool their resources -- even if meager --  generous and equitable outcomes can result. Finally, since  "leaves" and "fishes" are both nouns and verbs, I hope to have fun with the words I write. 

    Archives

    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.