Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

He is one of twenty-five artists gathered for a weekend of Earth Storytelling: a vegan chef, rapper, organic gardener, environmental and food justice activist with a PhD in Urban Ecology and a performing credit at the Obama White House. He gives us seed albums – mine has arugula in it – with a QR code that links to his music. He doesn’t speak much, but he has the calming presence of one who has seen a lot and is generous with his kindness. When he extends his hand, it is as warm as the soil in which he grows hope.

A YEARs-LONG CREATIVE EXPLORATION OF THE CLIMATE THROUGH 100-WORD STORIES • WEEK 13

Photo from NASA

She looks stunning in her iridescent dress, light dancing across her skin, impossible emerald hues undulating to a music only she can hear. Bathed in radiance, she sends luminescent tendrils into the sky, reaching out, offering her hand and the promise of so much more, saying Hello, I am here. In that moment, from across the way, her beauty seems to explode the meaning of the word “awe” and replace it with something whose contours can never fully be delineated. She is expansive yet so small, an astonishing life force protected from harm by the thinnest of shields.

A YEARs-LONG CREATIVE EXPLORATION OF THE CLIMATE THROUGH 100-WORD STORIES • WEEK 12

Photo by Kyle Larivee on Unsplash

The tiny mountain mist frog from Australia
The even tinier sharp snouted day frog, also from Australia
The Coote’s tree snail from French Polynesia
The giant atlas barbel found in the rivers of Morocco
Poecilobothrus majesticus, a long-legged fly from the UK
The Chinese paddlefish, who could reach up to 23 feet in length
The 30 million-year-old Yangtze sturgeon

These are just some of the species we have identified. There might be thousands more, gone before we knew them. How do you grieve something that hasn’t even been named?

RIP my friends. You will be missed. 

And I’m sorry.

A YEARs-LONG CREATIVE EXPLORATION OF THE CLIMATE THROUGH 100-WORD STORIES • WEEK 11