Bethia Sheean-Wallace

Stories of Climate Courage: ‘Selecting “offset your flights” always felt too easy’

Selecting “offset your flights” always felt too easy. How could I ever comprehend my carbon emissions, flying Canberra-Singapore-New York, premium economy return, for a business trip?
That’s 9.9 tonnes of CO₂e.
15 Eucalyptus viminalis seedlings to sequester one tonne.
149 trees. Two full days’ planting: the land’s degraded and drought’s made it dry. Now they’ve just got to be looked after — for the next hundred years. If there are no more really bad bushfires. Which there almost certainly will be.
Just for one traveller… one trip… that next time I’ll insist it be done via videoconference.
— Adam Sébire (Craigie, Australia)

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Tiny Coronavirus Stories: ‘Searching for her courage’

I’m thankful my mother isn’t dealing with all this. I’m thankful she doesn’t have to live in fear of another disease infecting her compromised body, though I do wish I could hear her voice. She would respond to the current state of the world with words of courage and comfort. Neither dismissing my fears nor playing into them. She would repeat the words she always spoke to her students: “Face the future with warm courage and high hopes.” My days at home begin by looking out the window and searching for her courage.
— Lisa Kitchens (Brooklyn, New York)

read more Tiny Coronavirus Stories: ‘Searching for her courage’