Helene destroyed my hometown. I don’t want climate change stories of false hope

“At NYC Climate Week… the dominant theme was: We can solve this! We need to tell hopeful climate stories! But there’s no ‘solving’ a hurricane wiping out western North Carolina, hundreds of miles from the sea… At best, it comes across as out of touch; at worst, it feels callous… We cannot minimize the horrors unfolding now, or that it will get worse in the coming years… Right now, what I desperately need are authentic stories that help us figure out how to be human in this changing world, to face this overwhelming crisis with bravery. Stories that make us laugh — not in ignoring our reality, but in the midst of it — and stories that remind us there’s still so much beauty here to fight for. That capture how, in the living nightmare of climate disasters, people demonstrate extraordinary kindness and creativity… as I grieve an unimaginable loss, the last thing I want are optimistic stories about hope. As climate scientist Kate Marvel says: “We need courage, not hope, to face climate change.”