Aug 10-16: Timothy Beal – When Time Is Short: Reality, Grief, and Hope on the Horizon of Climate Crisis
Thinking about mortality, either personal or the large-scale destruction caused by climate change, is admittedly hard, admittedly. Even harder in some ways is the knowledge that the climate crisis is almost entirely self-inflicted; we all bear some responsibility. Hardest of all, I suspect, is to let go of the hope that the crisis can be fixed or averted.
Tim promises that he isn’t trying to ruin a nice vacation at Ring Lake Ranch. Understanding the reality that our time is limited, and indeed may be very limited, isn’t a crushing downer as much as it is a chance to be grateful for the time we have with the people around us, the beauty of a place like Ring Lake Ranch. Tim hopes that wisdom can help us live with intention and love, however long our collective days may last.
Aside from his book, When Time is Short: Finding Our Way in the Anthropocene, Tim has offered several helpful resources to get at this idea. Please have a read or listen as you can; whether or not you make it to Ring Lake Ranch for the session, learning to live in our finitude is a vital practice. Of course, walking among the rolling hills, the fragrant sage brush, and the cool lakes around Ring Lake Ranch would be a lovely way to cultivate gratitude and intention, as well. Just sayin’.
Here are the podcasts and articles Tim shared:
Interview with Nadia Bolz-Weber: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cf9YhkpgEuy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Things Not Seen Podcast: https://www.thingsnotseenradio.com/shows/2228-beal#:~:text=When%20Time%20is%20Short%20is,relationship%20to%20the%20natural%20world.
Nomad Podcast: https://www.nomadpodcast.co.uk/timothy-beal-finding-hope-at-the-end-of-the-world-n318/
Review in Sojourner: https://sojo.net/magazine/august-2022/culture/humbler-vision-human-station
Article in Grist: https://grist.org/culture/when-time-is-short-review-timothy-beal-climate-doomer-religion/