Hi Jeanne! I am on the forum all the time, but I don't often comment. Thank you for sharing this. It was unsettling to read as you mentioned it might be. I have been thinking about it since. I've been thinking about this topic for the last few years. We have 4 kids (all teenagers) so I think about how to read this and see the silver lining. I also think about how I can be really practical and guide my family through this in a grounded, sensible way. Not to overreact, but to meet what is coming in a cooperative way, especially for those of us who live on the west coast (I am in San Francisco). If you have any insight about things we can do now to care for ourselves while we ride this climate change wave that is about to get super real, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you. 

@jeanne-mayell I wonder if the drought has already begun.

https://api.nationalgeographic.com/distribution/public/amp/environment/article/the-drought-in-the-western-us-could-last-until-2030

@marigold Yes, by definition some Western US states and the Southwest have been in a megadrought for over 20 years. A mega drought is defined as 20 years... in the US many of our states have been in a drought since 2000.  I've "seen" since around 2015 that the Colorado will be without water soon.  The Colorado's waters feed 7 states... 7 states which as far as I know have not started to make preparations.  California's San Joaquin Valley's fertile fields are being abandoned and the population is dropping... not enough water. 

Posted by: @thelovingdiet

Hi Jeanne! I am on the forum all the time, but I don't often comment. Thank you for sharing this. It was unsettling to read as you mentioned it might be. I have been thinking about it since. I've been thinking about this topic for the last few years. We have 4 kids (all teenagers) so I think about how to read this and see the silver lining. I also think about how I can be really practical and guide my family through this in a grounded, sensible way. Not to overreact, but to meet what is coming in a cooperative way, especially for those of us who live on the west coast (I am in San Francisco). If you have any insight about things we can do now to care for ourselves while we ride this climate change wave that is about to get super real, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you. 

Hi thelovingdiet, I love your question on how to see a silver lining and I have so many silver linings on this subject!  

First, I feel we in this community and others who are empathic and caring people around the globe are here at this time to help bring our civilization to a new higher level of consciousnesses. So when I become frustrated that others can't see what I am seeing that we are doing to our planet, I remember that I came her to help them wake up. 

My earliest vision (back in 1985) when I was first realizing I had a gift for seeing psychically, showed that there were "helper souls", people who were here on this planet to help with coming earth changes. I saw the helpers streaming in from other stars, coming here to help others cope the stress that was coming.

 Then I saw we would all need to rise higher, even those who who are more evolved.  We all need to rise and as we do, it helps the rest rise with us.

I saw in my meditation a cliff we'd have to climb.  And aside from the fact that the seas will likely rise so high that we will need to get to higher ground, we all need to rise in our consciousness.  

Second: The higher consciousness we need is, to quote a favorite teacher of mine, Joanna Macy: an understanding of the radical interconnectivity of all beings.  She got that from a holy man, a Rinpoche, in tibet.  

When I think of the interconnectivity of all beings, I first think of the plants and animals, as well as all humans, and the seas and mountains, and the whole earth.

I so often have in the last 30 years, seen native Americans rising from the earth to teach us how to love and respect her. 

Third, I feel much better about climate change when I am actively changing my own land.  I am starting to re-wild my property, to bring in native plants that the pollinators- bees, ants, moths, butterflies can use.  They can't use non native plants and my entire gardens are mainly non native!  They are pretty but they are imports from Asia and Europe and the insects who live here cannot use them.  

Re-planting the land where I live is giving me a lot of hope.  

Driving an EV car also gives me hope. 

We are getting a heat pump and gradually electrifying our appliances to reduce fossil fuel use, and of course so many other ways to conserve.  

But creating a miniature wildlife ecosystem around my home is so gratifying. 

FINALLY, how to get real hope.  Like you,  I have children and they are getting close to having their own children.  I don't worry for them because I know they are helpers.  I also feel that they get to be part of the changing civilization that is so needed. 

They will get to see the more beautiful world we all know is possible.  Because the pain that we are experiencing and will keep experiencing is causing us to change for the better.  I do believe that by decade's end we will have seen a huge shift in how people treat the earth. The next decade will be spent doing all we can to protect the earth. 

I got more hope when I read this book, a cli-sci that envisioned one way civilization could transform during the next 70 years to a humane and eco-friendly way of being. Yes, it is fiction, and yes there are some mighty stretches of imagination in it. But the technology in it is not totally a stretch, it's based on present day work. And they do save civilization and get climate change under control. It gave me something to envision. It's called The Ministry for the Future. It is also on tape and better on tape due to the many voices in the story. There may be other books that show how this crisis will transform our civilization.