Summer news from GEN Europe
Dear friends,
As we straddle the summer solstice on this side of the equator, the heat accumulates across the land and sea. While climate crisis comes in all seasons and places now, the summer time makes it even more palpable to all of us. The pain of the world doesn't seem to cease as we step into another season.
What to do when the grief about living in times of crisis can never go away, and a feeling of loss is always there?
Researchers Ana Honnacker and Asmus Trautsch tried to answer this question. They presented their findings during the "Myth, Ritual and Practice for the Age of Ecological Catastrophe" conference: keeping some kind of ceremonial practice, linked with time and place, with cherishing the life that is still here, tempers its ferocity and brings meaning where there was none before.
Our community summer gatherings feel like a good opportunity to do so. While embracing the challenges these times bring us and continuing our deliberations for a greener world, we might still stay with the joy the world offers us and celebrate it.
The words of Robin Wall Kimmerer seem to echo this notion:
"Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift." | 
