Photo from iStock

I don’t wear jewelry. I’ve always been allergic to silver and at the height of the pandemic, I became allergic to my deceased mother’s gold wedding ring, which I had been wearing for 35 years. But when I looked up the Product Environmental Report for my new iPhone, I found out that it too is made of gold and rare earth elements – though 100 percent recycled, Apple tells me. Still, I feel strange. What I used to carry on me that had the most value was the memory of someone long gone. Now it’s a phone.

A YEARs-LONG CREATIVE EXPLORATION OF THE CLIMATE THROUGH 100-WORD STORIES • WEEK 22

Photo by Chantal Bilodeau

On a walk on a beautiful spring day, I catch myself ruminating on all the ills plaguing us. The inequity. The greed. The shameless plundering. The widespread abuse.

…

A breath. I force myself to look up from my feet and drop into the present.

The sky is offering me its deepest blue. The leaves, still tender green, shimmer in the afternoon sun. Birds call out. The wind carries the sweet scent of fresh blossoms.

I am reminded of an article I read recently and repeat like a mantra: “The world is beautiful. People are good.”

Inspiration: Graduates, My Generation Wrecked So Much That’s Precious. How Can I Offer You Advice?

A YEARs-LONG CREATIVE EXPLORATION OF THE CLIMATE THROUGH 100-WORD STORIES • WEEK 21

Photo by mk. s on Unsplash

I sit at my computer, powered by the solar panels on the roof. In my inbox, only three new messages. Oh joy.

I go out in search of lunch. A few blocks away, a farmers market sells produce grown in fields, greenhouses, on vertical walls, and in water. I recognize some neighbors. No one is looking at their phone. 

I don’t have to rush in this steady-state economy. No need to constantly perform to feed the capitalist machine. Time has become elastic and wealth supports communities instead of crushing them.

I think: Huh, this is what happiness feels like.

See My Utopia – Part I

A YEARs-LONG CREATIVE EXPLORATION OF THE CLIMATE THROUGH 100-WORD STORIES • WEEK 20