change is coming now

change is coming now, and with it, a deep sadness, lamenting the loss

As I sat (looking down to avoid cacti) in the lap of this beautiful Being, I wondered if She could sense I was there. Or, was the life that once danced in that twisted body of Hers now dancing elsewhere, nourishing and protecting the Beings of the dirt seeking refuge in Her roots? Leaning my head against the sun-heated warmth of Her body, I closed my eyes and mourned the loss of this wise Being. A piñon (I think, but I am still learning the names of the high desert).

Life is cyclical, this, I know. My twisted Friend still gives life to those Beings in the dirt. However, human-caused climate change has started to break this cycle down into something unnatural, something that will not cycle back. Recently, on a guided hike through Tsankawi National Monument, the superintendent explained that by 2050, New Mexico would lose the vast majority of its forests (backed by studies at Los Alamos National Lab). Piñons, ponderosa pines, and spruce are disappearing at alarming rates. The effects of climate change go far beyond the forests of New Mexico. Globally, many vulnerable communities of humans and beyond-humans have already been devastated by climate change, and, in most cases, these communities have contributed to it the least. The crisis is so vast it is hard to find the courage to act.

This post is not necessarily a call to act. Instead, I am inviting us to find the courage to lament the significant loss of those Beings and places we love. Change is coming, and our home will look vastly different than it does now in years to come. I admit I am not hopeful. However, in lamentation, I find the courage to act in a way that does not try to recover what has always been but seeks systemic transformation.