I have been thinking about how many people are being forced to come to a place where we adjust to a new political reality, and this can be extremely difficult. One of the crucial things that makes it hard for me is that I’ve lost hope. I’ve lost hope not only for the short-term comfortable quality of life in the so-called first world but also for the long-term prognosis of our species.

Looking at what has happened over the past 50 years, one statistic that I find particularly disturbing is that worldwide wildlife populations have decreased an average of 70%. (1) This rapid decline occurred under administrations that mostly accepted the premise of human causes of climate change, and some actively tried to find remedies. So, what happens now with an administration unraveling any progress, stating things like the Endangered Species Act cannot be an obstacle to oil and gas production?

Given the political reality, hoping the worst possible outcome will not occur seems ludicrous. What happens to humans when wildlife decline reaches 90%? 98%, when no more fish are in the lakes or oceans, no bugs and bees to pollinate crops?

According to data from Cornell University (2), bird populations in North America have declined by approximately 2.9 billion birds, a loss of more than one in four birds since 1970. An analysis of 168 of Europe’s common birds has revealed that, from 1980–2021, 75 species (45%) declined across 30 European countries. These studies did not include data from death due to the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreak. What will it be like if there are no birds in the sky, when children are born who will never hear them sing?

The tendency is to assume, want, pray, and hope for things to be different. I’ve realized that wanting something different can be the foundation of suffering, so this desire can become a trap. But then I began to think about miracles.

There are two kinds of miracles. First, there’s the everyday miracle, such as the dandelion that blooms after a hard frost, the sun that peaks through a totally cloudy sky, finding one soulmate, or being offered that perfect job. These everyday miracles are things that can be hoped for. But the miracles needed to sustain productive human life in this political climate are another kind of miracle. It’s the kind of miracle you cannot count on, one that is so rare it defies logic and rational thinking. However, these sorts of miracles do occur every once in a long while.

So, as long as I hold onto the fact that they even though they are so unlikely that it is irrational to hope for them, that since the supernatural can happen, I can hold onto the hope that someday hope again could be possible. This idea of hope can make it a little easier just to let things be while going through this time, which Indigenous prophecy describes as purification, of social and ecological disruption that will eventually bring a time of lasting peace. We can be part of this by doing whatever we can to live honorably, with authentic compassion, and truth moving forward, one step and then the other, holding onto each other with love and the dream of a better world.

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(1.)”Catastrophic 73% decline in the average size of global wildlife populations in just 50 years reveals a ‘system in peril’ *The Living Planet Index, provided by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), tracks almost 35,000 vertebrate populations of 5,495 species from 1970-2020. The steepest decline is in freshwater populations (85%), followed by terrestrial (69%) and then marine (56%).
https://www.worldwildlife.org/press-releases/catastrophic-73-decline-in-the-average-size-of-global-wildlife-populations-in-just-50-years-reveals-a-system-in-peril
Earth’s wildlife populations have disappeared at a ‘catastrophic’ rate in the past half-century, new analysis says: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/10/09/wildlife-populations-decline-wwf-report/

(2.)”According to recent data, bird populations in North America have declined by approximately 2.9 billion birds, a loss of more than one in four birds since 1970. Experts say this bird loss will continue to grow unless changes are made in our daily lives. “
https://news.vt.edu/articles/2024/01/VT_Expert_Bird_Populations.html

We evaluated population change for 529 species of birds in the continental United States and Canada (76% of breeding species)…Results from long-term surveys, accounting for both increasing and declining species, reveal a net loss in total abundance of 2.9 billion birds across almost all biomes.
https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/DECLINE-OF-NORTH-AMERICAN-AVIFAUNA-SCIENCE-2019.pdf

https://datazone.birdlife.org/articles/europe-wide-monitoring-schemes-highlight-declines-in-widespread-farmland-birds