September 2025: the future of energy
Each month, we break down our topic into four weekly modules. Catch up on previous editions here.β
This week's module: CONNECT
- π― CONNECT | Conversation prompts on the divestment and clean energy investment
- LEARN | Key facts and stories about energy justice
- ACT | What you can do towards a resilient and healthy energy system
- REFLECT | Art, poetry, and commitments
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Here's what we'll learn today Reader
The subject line of this email has nothing to do with its contents. September's theme is all about the future of energy--divesting from fossil fuels and reinvesting in clean energy--but all I can think about is BEARS.
Sorry not at all sorry!
This morning at 5am, I landed back in Seattle after an amaaaaaaazinggg trip to celebrate my two-year wedding anniversary in ALASKA!
If you've been following along on our Changeletters for the past two years, you've been with me through some major life moments:
- Getting engaged with an engagement bike which then got me gifted an ebike trip in Europe with ebike Nomadsβ
- Throwing a fun sustainable wedding to celebrate partnership, community, and this planet
- And now... going on a life-changing bear viewing expedition in Katmai National Park thanks to a generous offer by Bald Mountain Air!β
We saw so many glaciers. So many bears. So much wildness.
This trip was an emotional whirlwind. The joy of seeing bears catch salmon in their home, far far away from most of humanity. The awe of watching the expanse of glaciers...while knowing how much they've melted each year. Especially in the past decade. The anger of anticipating the United States' leaders ruining nature for the sake of a few billionaires.
These feelings overwhelm my poor brain, and I never know what to do with them. So, I turn to Valarie Kaur's quote from See No Stranger:
The opposite of love is not rage. The opposite of love is indifference. Love engages all our emotions: Joy is the gift of love. Grief is the price of love. Anger is the force that protects that which is loved. We cannot access the depth of loving ourselves or others without our rage.
So as we talk about the future of energy this month, I want to approach it with two seemingly conflicting lenses: anger and abundance.
Anger, because of the way we're being betrayed by leaders whose job it is to keep us safe.
Abundance, because. BEARS. These brown bears eat like 100,000 calories per day in the summer/fall to get nice and fat. (Body positivity!) They generally don't bother each other because there's such an abundance of resources. They wake up, go to the water, throw back 40 salmons, take a nap, and live their best lives.
That could be us!
Oil is a limited resource.
You know what's not? SUNLIGHT. WIND. Earth-given gifts!
We'll kick off our September Changeletter on the future of energy with some questions you can discuss with the people around you. But first, here are some pics of bears. And a link to the livestream.
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We can't do this without you Reader
A wee lil note: if you enjoy getting these Changeletters and you would like to make a gift of reciprocity, a $9 contribution would go such a long way. Especially if you make it monthly! 100% of this work is me sitting behind my keyboard stressing about if anyone cares about this stuff, so encouragement and financial support is so greatly appreciated!
Thank you Anna and Carol for supporting this month!
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Your bite-sized action plan Reader
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CONNECT with these conversation prompts
Every CONNECT module, youβll get up to four prompts to connect with yourself, others, spirit, and systems.
Your mission is to take whatβs in these Changeletters and bring it into one of those dimensions.
These are great conversation starters for friends who don't consider themselves "climate people," which is wild to me, because if you like going outside and breathing air, are you not a "climate person?"
- How do you think about the future of energy in your personal life? Other than solar panels and wind turbines, for example, what comes up for you? (Biking instead of driving? Simply requiring less resources to exist?)β
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- What is the relationship between individual efforts and larger infrastructure/institutional efforts? Especially right now, we're seeing massive rollbacks on federal renewable energy efforts in the United States, which is bound to ripple into other countries' legislation. How do you think about your power on an individual, household, and systemic level? What can you do on your own, and what relies on top-down incentives?
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- What does energy independence mean to you? "Energy independence" is thrown around a lot in geopolitical and national security conversations. (I won't pretend to know what those are like.) For me, personally? Energy independence looks like living in a city where my electricity comes from renewable sources. Having a life where I don't have to rely on cars to get around. Feeling like I don't have to worry about worsening climate disasters.
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- How do you think about energy in other ways? What about the energy of community, and having the confidence, agency, and means to make a difference? What about spiritually? How can we broaden our thinking around the future of energy?
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Those are your four questions for today! I hope you have some fruitful discussions with humans in your life. As always, report back with anything you'd like to share!
Team earth (and bears) forever,
Nivi
Upcoming Soapbox events
βOur entire events calendar for ALL locations + virtual can be found here.
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