🌿PEAT November newsletter - ‘We are going on bear hunt

 ðŸŒ¿PEAT November newsletter 

🌿‘We are going on bear hunt ‘We can't go over it. We can't go under it. Oh no! We've got to go through it!’


It’s always a funny feeling when the clocks go back, in the first few days everything seems slightly out of kilter, off centre. How many times have you heard that feelings are irrational, irrelevant, they stop us making sensible decisions. What if feelings were essential, feeling vulnerable made us more connected, reminded us of what was important, and helped to bring out the best version of ourselves? I’ve been thinking about the times that I have been under the ‘influence of feelings’ recently. 

I have felt really heartened, in the company of the many individuals doing extraordinary things, helping me to believe that much more is possible.  A friend now in her 80s still thinking of what she might do to create a better future for the next generations, listening to inspiring work and ideas for better transport systems in Cumbria, the energy created by meeting new people and discovering that we were very different and more importantly that we had much more in common. 

The PEAT climate reading group, has been reading ‘Why Rebel’* by Jay Griffiths a collection of short essays written on just that. One of the chapters is called ‘ Letter to an Endling’ which I didn’t realise is a specific scientific name for the last of a species. She writes about a little bird called the rufous-fronted laughing thrush - trapped, caged, and traded for their song. Griffiths writes about ‘Bird sorrow for a status symbol’ ‘This is what extinction sounds like, the silencing of song that should have been yours forever.’

I felt such sadness and shame about the injustice and unfairness of humanity overwhelming tiny birds to extinction. (Check out this link for ‘other’endlings) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endling

It’s widely believed now that we have gone beyond the 1.5’ threshold, and we are seeing bigger and bigger consequences of this, - the devastation caused by the recent storms in America, and the floods in Spain to name a few. It makes me feel fearful, particularly since is still no real sense of collective urgency about what this means for us as individuals and communities, and how we need to adapt.


Feelings can be overwhelming but they are also a powerful source of courage and energy and they allow us to see what is needed. Vivian Dittmar* in her work about the power of feelings brings this to life. 

For example 

  • anger is associated with ‘this is wrong’ - and it brings clarity, its power is action 
  • fear is associated with ‘this is terrible’ - fear galvanises - its power is movement 
  • shame is associated with ‘I am wrong’ - invites us to reflect - its power is change 
  • joy is associated with ‘ this is right’ - invites us to appreciate - its power is attraction 

Feelings far from being irrelevant and a nuisance are useful and have a purpose. They form the bedrock of empathy and the ability to see the the world from another’s perspective, so important to help us to adapt to whatever the future holds. What might your feelings lead you to think about or what action they might be calling to you to take?

In the words of Michael Rosen ‘We are going on bear hunt ‘ We can't go over it.We can't go under it.Oh no! We've got to go through it!’ * with all our feelings of anger, sadness, shame, joy, all of which are welcome in PEAT.