What my daughter’s running has taught me about climate

Perspire and persist

This is a post about endurance, but endurance is hard to come by in many parts, as we grapple with some very terrible things, like capitulation and weakness in the face of very real threats to our institutions, and democracy itself. I hope you are safe. And finding the resources you need. ❤️

Dear Most Valued Persons,
Y’all. I am the gal who got the ‘Special Coaches Award’ every year in high school cross country. This was a commendation that they absolutely made up for me, Little Miss Tries Very Hard But Is Not Too Fast. I never made it to State. But I cheered through the humidity, did not miss practice, and could pretty much run forever, no matter the heat, so they kept me around. My daughter’s dad is a serious runner, known around town as one half of the Bens – two middle-aged running club dudes who do all the races, and cheer all the people (my Ben, in particular, will LOSE his voice cheering at races of all kinds, he’s got spirit, yes he do).

But though my husband is faster than me (he ran in college, and now qualifies for Boston and the like), he also has never considered himself a really fast dude. So it was with a mixture of delight and worry that I greeted my daughter’s recent-ish commitment to serious running — what if she just doesn’t have the genes to realize her dreams? What’s bred in the bone? How much can be willed and worked to success? Yes, I’m the mom who visualizes the whole continuum of an experience, which I know is both unhelpful, and noisy. The variance of possibility! (And also, my parents didn’t cut off my childhood violin lessons when they realized I wasn’t going to be Itzhak Perlman.)

Of course, I run for all the benefits that are not trophies (which btdubs no trophies pls). And I love that for my daughter. I want her to run because she loves putting her best feet forward, and derives physical and mental strength from it…But I also want her to qualify for provincials, if that’s her goal. And because she’s more like her dad than me (I would prefer to cartwheel across the finish line smiling), I am fairly sure it is her goal.

My husband’s metaphor, in running and life, has always been persistence beats resistance. It’s lovely to be sure, and it’s got an Elizabeth Warren ring to it that makes me like it just enough. But if I’m honest, I’ve never loved it. Because it presumes headwinds and resistance, a defensive and hardworky position of plowing through peanut butter forever. Which, of course, is real, and what it feels like on days where the snow and wind burn your face as you log your clicks, or as you push for climate action against bad faith baddies standing stocky and smug and arms crossed because baddies always have their arms crossed except for when they’re stroking their cats. But does persistence beats resistance motivate? I am not so sure.

Lately, during my runs, I’ve been flipping my own koans around, and the one I like most of late is Will it and skill it. In my daughter I see the craziest will, a desire so strong it got her to the city finals, and has helped her clock some pretty respectable times in 10K races we’ve been running just for kicks and clicks. Skilling feels like a more positive variation on persisting. Whilst watching the great reality show Cheer, I found it equal parts hilarious and charming when I learned that the phrase for mastering a new trick was a ‘skill.’ ‘I learned a new skill,’ the invariably perky and permatanned cheerleaders would say, each time they committed a fresh near-death maneuver to muscle memory. Like a boy scout badge, or the tickety boxes on my daughter’s twee Montessori reports (Water table ✅ Binomial cube ✅), people like skills. Skillfullness.

A few years ago I wrote a post on the negative splits required for us to meet our climate goals, and why race pace is key. I was right about that, and about the frontloaded speed required, but wrong about the race in question. It can’t be framed as a sprint. It’s a marathon, as Quadrature’s Greg De Temmerman’s explains in his very spot on recent Ted Talk. Worse (depending on your perspective!), it’s an ultra. As an ultramarathoner, De Temmerman adapts to the conditions, and trains hard for the A to B line that grows more difficult when you see that the map also contains topographies like the heights of Mt Kilimanjaro and the trough of obfuscatory Executive Orders. He says:

As with trail running, it’s important to keep our eyes on the prize. Keep moving in the short term, while you are thinking about the long term. When I start a long distance race I don’t start by saying hey 100 kms to go, 99 kms to go, no that would be killing me. I have a plan, I start by going to the next checkpoint, which is typically 4 or 5 hours away. I go there, I refuel, assess how I feel, and then I go to the next one.

The climate pep talks have been prodigious in the wake of Trump’s ascendancy and the attendant relegation of climate and DEI, and you know, general respect for humanity. But this one, from the wonderfully and ironically-named Solitaire Townsend, strikes the right tone, speaking to the durational work in front of us.

If you’ve been in sustainability only for a few years, you’ve ridden an unprecedented upward wave of growing interest, investment and public support. It’s been the easiest time in my career to land major action/change.

So, if that’s all you’ve known. Then this backlash and uncertainty right now is likely uncomfortable at best and downright scary at worst.

And yep, the stakes are higher right now with climate change really biting. But the stakes felt pretty damn high back then too.

My advice?

1. DON’T PANIC - this isn’t the first backlash, recession or major hit we’ve faced. Each time before we’ve worked out asses off and continued to make progress.

2. ADAPT - we’ve renamed, restructured, pivoted and reinvented ‘doing the right thing’ over and again. It’s a great strategy to inject energy and avoid the ‘anti’ brigade.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet…so what shall we call ‘ESG’ next?

3. CONTINUE - the biggest mistake to make right now: stopping. Climate change won’t give us a time-out because a few leaders are feeling regressive. You’ve got to work harder, dig deeper, find strength in each other, listen more and be smarter in how we hit our goals. We’ve done it before, and it made us more effective. You won’t see many veterans in this movement saying ‘it’s all over’ or thinking this is a permanent downturn. Because we’ve been through this before. Positive change only stops if we do.

4. ENJOY - sustainability can be a bit dour at the best of times. Now’s the time to LOUDLY CELEBRATE every damn win. Show we’re still here, show we’re still winning/progressing/solving in more ways than ever! Joy is an act of defiance.

I’ll be right here cheering you on. And giving the occasional pep talk.

This is, of course, different from the initial running provocation of my daughter’s need for speed. But it’s about wise actions, cool heads, and the steady state of running as a helpful metaphor for these headwindy times. It’s about logging the training, even if you may not win tomorrow, and even if you may never be the person most well-equipped to win, like, ever ever. My colleague Jon Jon volunteers for an incredible climate and trail running group called Footprints. It’s easy to see why going the distance and climate are mutually inclusive endeavours.

We’ll need this endurance, because, “this is the hard part of the journey.” From Albert Cheung at BNEF (the whole piece is the most cogent and measured take on what’s to come in the energy transition FWIW.):

That the transition is starting to feel hard shouldn’t come as a surprise: many of the easier opportunities have been conquered. Early adopters in richer countries have already bought EVs and home solar systems, and renewables developers have snapped up the best sites with the cheapest grid connections, in the most economically and politically stable markets. These early movers played a critical role in driving down the costs of clean energy technologies and bringing them to scale.

I’ve been feeling pretty beat down lately, for reasons of all kinds, but I take comfort in the fact that climate malaise isn’t eating my heart the way it used to (though perhaps it should…look away from the AMOC, Little Miss Slow and Steady). I attribute this to the will it/skill it mentality. I have a merino base layer of core strength to draw from, whatever climate clawbacks may pass. And there’s the near term to focus on. Even as we simultaneously fixate on an endpoint that is occasionally hidden by hills and lumpy obstructionists. We can walk and chew gum. And get through this together.

Speaking of walking: if you don’t like running, this same perspectival clarity can be achieved by strolling, no doubt. And you get to both save money on overly fussy performance wear and not talk about gels. Which are disgusting. Don’t @ me on that one.

This planet: Running on full?

What are you thinking and feeling rn? Lemme know!

Last planet: Love is the lens.

Thank you, Fatima:

“Love is greater than positivity” are the words I needed! I always appreciated and felt connected to the active part to optimism but worried optimism risked naiveté. But love…love is an active choice and is founded (and grows) on feelings and facts and practice.”

Active choice, I love that back!

Stuff

Be the disciplined stoner. Running Ben exists at the most intriguing Venn diagram - he is the king of both cannabis reportage and running in Canada. Which kind of sums up this post. Disciplined stoners FTW. Marathon and chill?

People dancing

We dance! Golden Fest gives me life, and it came back with a cocek this year! (Plus David Byrne showed up, and I told him I was a Talking Head Pump. He looked at me like I was an affable weirdo, which…I am?). So many fave friends and musicians, and no, willful daughter, you may not crowdsurf:

🚨A kind of big thing! Please make sure you’re subscribed in email if you’d like to keep getting this email. Substack appears to be trying to push folks to their app. Thank you, Felix Salmon, for uncovering. Some readers had been asking why they weren’t getting my sends anymore…and not just because I’m an erratic emailer. Mystery vexingly solved. TY, RZ!

Thank you for reading. As always, tell me how to make this better.
Hope you are safe and healthy and happy as possible!
Sarah