When I started the blog, I never thought I would write about the Apocalypse or the growing panic over whether our democracy can survive. Heavy topics for me and my humble blog.

But here we are. I go where you go, and we are all headed in the same direction, like it or not.

Things are bad, but perhaps not as bad as many fear. We are not at the abyss, say the experts.

The more I read and learn about climate change and politics,  the more I am called to take it seriously, to deal with it rationally and positively. Some days, cute animal photos just won’t cut it.

I’m not into fear and gloom. The end is not near. Just a big and scary mess is edging closer to me and everyone else reading this.

Panic, like anger, accomplishes nothing. I want to learn what, if anything, I can do that is positive while preparing for what comes. It’s getting to be time.

When I watch the news these days, which is as infrequently as possible, I sometimes worry about our beautiful little farm’s future. I can’t afford to hide from the information. More and more, we are all the news.

I see the fires, the drought, the flooding, the deadly tornadoes, micro-bursts, superstorms, and giant hurricanes, and I realize we can’t escape climate disasters forever or even for a week or so.  The environment, sick of us and our stupidity and greed, is running amok. Many of our leaders have their heads stuck in the sand, but we can’t afford to: our lives, homes, pets, friends, and family are on the line.

We need to do something, but what exactly?

Who will speak for the earth and the coming change if we don’t? How are we supposed to feel?

Will we be able to have running water for the animals and us? Will there be enough hay? Can our farmhouse withstand hurricanes, micro-bursts, fires, and tornadoes? Will those beautiful hills and mountains catch fire one day and rush through our valley?

The last micro-burst was just down the road; it came last year. They’re still cleaning up.

Are we talking about the End of Days or just the beginning of different days? None of our leaders want to talk about these gathering storms; Congress has no intention of dealing with it.

We bought a generator system recently that will be installed over the next few weeks. That was our climate change budget for the next year or so. Confronted with such monumental challenges, it is sometimes difficult to feel anything but helpless.

Lord knows there is enough gloom and doom in our world; nobody wants more. But sometimes, it wants us.

So far, we’ve avoided fires and drought here on the farm, but we’ve had our first tornadoes and several super storms and micro-bursts. If you believe in science, and I do, it seems essential to think about it and wonder if there’s much I can do to prepare. It’s my responsibility to keep us, our animals, and our home safe. It’s difficult to not feel helpless, especially when there’s no one in charge. We can react to the suffering of others, but we can’t seem to prevent it.

How can I do it? How can Maria and I do it together? The horrific destruction is calling to me.

It’s clear by now that the rich will fare better than the rest of us. They can hire private security forces, build great walls to stop the tide and fortresses, tunnels, safe rooms, store supplies, and ensure they have access to food and power.

For me, the generator is a huge first step. I don’t yet know what the second step ought to be.

More and more, I hear my friends talking about an “apocalypse,” both in terms of the environment and also politics. More and more people believe we face not only climate ruin but a fascist or quasi-fascist takeover of the country, led by the renegade and increasingly traitorous Republican Party and their increasingly angry and resurrectionist followers.

We have been there before. The insurrections will fail. The center will hold.

I’ve read the predictions of several scientists who seem to know what they are talking about, and I  find them sobering and somewhat better than I imagined.

One climate futurist who impresses me is Californian Alex Steffens. Who publishes an online newsletter about climate change called “The Snap Forward” on the writer’s website Substack.

Steffens teaches an online class that helps people “learn smart strategies for personal ruggedization,” his term for what we will all be doing shortly to keep our homes and families safe and functional.

Millions of Americans have already lost their homes, savings, and trailers due to storms, flooding, and fires, and we think we understand that this is the beginning, not the end.

His primary message is that the Apocalypse isn’t coming in one devastating blast, instead of in many small ones that are unpredictable and increasingly dangerous and destructive. The danger from climate change is accurate, and it is here.

He calls them “trans-apocalypses.”

“It feels almost an anachronistic to say it,” writes Steffensm but — “in these days of globalization, international entertainment, worldwide travel, remote work, constant connection and instant access to everything — the most important choice facing you and your family as the planetary crisis crashes down is where you choose to be. Where you live, and even more, where you have the right to live, will bound and determine your options when shit gets real.”

Steffens seems honest and rational to me.

He doesn’t believe we are in the Apocalypse. If we were, he says,  we wouldn’t be mobile, go to work, or be able to read this. He says it’s becoming impossible to predict what places would be safe, even if that was clearly defined. Today’s safe spots are very different from those he chose a few years ago.

But predicting danger is getting easier. We all face it, there is no place to hide.

The consequences of choosing poorly or being unable to determine, says Steffens, is to find yourself facing the future in a “brittle,” (dangerous) place.

More and more places are becoming brittle; he said climate change is a “widening bullseye.” Our bridges were not designed to withstand thousand-year floods, power lines are not sturdy enough to survive category five hurricanes, supermarkets can keep their stocks if the trucks aren’t running for a day or two, but if they stop running for a week, most store shelves will be bare.

And our sturdy and well-built little farmhouse were not designed to survive a micro-burst or tornado. Neither was I.

I understand that we will all face these dangers and challenges and that most of us don’t have the money to be fully prepared if such a thing is even possible.

For the moment, choosing where I live and thinking about how to support and protect it is as far as I can go. I will also vote for leaders who understand our earth is in peril and who want to save it.

It is very difficult for me to believe that any sane or rational human can doubt that climate change is real. But I never imagined that millions of people would doubt vaccines – one of the miracle life-saving discoveries of the modern world – either. Technology can do a lot of things, but it doesn’t necessarily make people smart.

At the same time, all sorts of pundits left and right, see the Republican Party as working day and night to undermine our democracy and firm their grip on voting and some of the most important “swing” states in the country.

Our government seems too powerless or weak to confront this insurgency. And here comes Donald Trump, the angry ghost of elections past, returning to spread more bile and grievance. Wow, no wonder the shrinks are overwhelmed.

This gloom surrounding our political system combined with the cloud surrounding the pandemic has people more worried and frightened than I can ever recall them being in my life.

No one seems sure about what to do about either crisis. I guess I’m on Steffens’s side. This is not an apocalypse, in terms of climate or politics. I see it as a wave of serious, but lesser crises, some nasty and murderous.

Climate change, Steffens predicts, will affect all of us, and alter the way we live.

He also says we won’t face one devastating crisis but a series of minor problems, many of them connected to one another. I think the same is true of politics.

As disturbing as they have become, the Republicans are not Nazis and Donald Trump is no Hitler.

Still, our system is a mess and it will take years of struggle to sort it out. It’s time for me to face that, even though it’s less likely than ever that I will be around to see the outcome.

I don’t believe we are facing a bloody civil war either. The extremists are not just in Congress and the Republican Party. They are everywhere.

More than half the country has rejected Trumpism and they are changing the face of the country.

These are people who cherish freedom and democracy and will fight for them.

I don’t think even Trump is up for a bloodbath like that. There is a difference between an ugly mess and an apocalypse. It’s always wise to be careful what you wish for, the Republicans may learn that lesson again soon.

My idea is to stay calm, do good and wait for our savior. This leader believes in accepting climate change and freedom and can guide us to a peaceful revolution – think of Gandhi, King, Mandela, Gandhi – and show us how to fight for the earth and democracy positively, practically, and non-violent.

I feel a rebirth in my bones.

He or she is coming. I believe that with all of my heart.

The other day, leafing through my contemplation books, I came across this prophesy (Luke 21:25-28). I have no idea if Jesus was the son of God or if he will ever return. But I have strong faith in rebirth and resurrection. This passage spoke to my heart.

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken… Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

I’m ready.