Over the last months we've discussed a very broad range of topics -- from eating insects to colonizing other planets -- and they've really shown that Salon’s Sustainability community has a truly impressive depth of knowledge and interests. We have some of the most well informed people on the troubles and challenges facing our planet and species. So we’d like to ask you how you feel about the last several months of Sustainability news, and what makes you feel optimistic or pessimistic.
In the last three months we have seen 300,000 people marching on the streets of Manhattan demanding action over climate change, a UN summit that made plenty of good promises, the creation of an enormous Pacific wildlife preserve, and to cap it all off a landmark concord between the USA and China to tackle emissions. These should be causes for celebration and relief. At the same time, however, we've experienced the hottest summer on record, seen evidence of a frightening rise in ocean temperatures and acidity, learned that the population is just going to keep growing no matter what, and put a crowd of climate change deniers in charge of our environmental policies. China's Xi Jinping might be on board but nobody is sure about India's Narendra Modi, and coal-loving Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is busy slashing emissions targets and trying to block climate change talks at an upcoming G20 summit.
This rollercoaster of news makes it hard to tell if there's any reason for optimism. So we turn to our community and what you think. What do you feel optimistic about, and what has encouraged you? What would it take to make you feel as if the world is on the right path? What stories about the climate movement do you think are being missed and that should be told?
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