I’ve come to realize just how multidisciplinary sustainability is, and to actually solve our environmental challenges, we need to become generalists.

Where humans often use toxic substances in our chemistry, the natural world’s chemistry is overwhelmingly benign. Where humans use heat and strong forces to create chemical bonds, nature self-assembles at ambient temperatures. Where many human chemical feedstocks rely on global mining supply chains, nature has figured out how to use whatever it has right where it is.

It’s going to be a short post today, mainly because I want to lift up the work of someone else. A friend of mine sent me a 2018 Youtube video of a young poet reciting a poem she wrote about climate action (thanks Deron!). The poet’s name is Amanda Gorman, and though I hadn’t heard of her previously, I think I should have. She’s tremendously talented and already accomplished in her 22 years, and her star is only rising higher. She has been invited to share a poem at the Biden Inauguration, which will make her the youngest inaugural poet for a president in American history.

Looking ahead, I choose to do so with hope and a commitment to action. As a species living on Spaceship Earth, we desperately need both, and I firmly believe they will be the keys to redeeming this past year.