We’re not yet ready for what’s already happened

Sometimes, the best way to deal with overwhelming news is to re-read something old. A third of Pakistan flooded, 33 million people displaced; China experiencing a heat wave like we’ve never seen on this planet; Europe experiencing the worst drought in 500 years; a water crisis at the Horn of Africa putting the lives of 10 million children at risk; the list continues… In trying to grapple with all of this, I turned to Alex Steffen’s essay on discontinuity. It’s not going to make you feel better about all that’s happening, but it puts it in context and gives you a framework of thinking about it. I found it helpful when I first read the article last year, I found it helpful again this week.