I had this conversation a while ago with a friend who expressed complete despair over Bernie Sanders’ campaign suspension and what four more years of either Trump or Biden means for the Earth’s climate. Our planet’s climate is warming at an alarming rate, and we’re only seeing the effects of carbon dioxide emissions from thirty years ago. Even more, that rate is accelerating – the emissions we’re pumping into the air now will take effect even sooner. Fires are raging across California, hurricanes are bombarding the East Coast and environmental racism puts the brunt of the climate disaster on minoritized groups.

So I get where my friend is coming from. If we delay rapid de-escalation of the fossil fuel industry and carbon dioxide emissions another year, the climate emergency will become even more catastrophic. Half a decade more of business as usual? The year 2100 will be an absolute fucking nightmare.

But, the president of the US is always going to be an enemy of the planet. The president is the leader of a government built on exploitation and destruction – of people, of land, of cultures and families. Even if Bernie were elected, he’d be our enemy. Yes, he would work tirelessly to pass a Green New Deal. But he couldn’t do it alone, and he certainly couldn’t do it within a year of taking office. The McConnells and Pelosis of the world would see to that.

Hell, the entire United States was built on the backs of the enslaved to enrich the white ruling class at the expense of everything and everyone else. Our government is working exactly as it was meant to.

But more importantly, the issue with tackling existential, long-term crises is that it takes a hell of a lot of people and coordination and work to create lasting change. Presidents only stick around for four to eight years. The Senate and House can turn blue or red depending on how badly they fucked up that year. Governments won’t lift a finger and then take credit when people force change. There will always be more work.

And lucky for us, we know what that work is. It’s fostering community, talking to your coworkers about joining or starting a union, building communities on radical compassion and respect for each other and the planet. Centering our Black and POC and Indigenous friends & colleagues & family. Showing up for our homeless neighbors. Learning how to protect our communities from fascism, racism, transphobia, homophobia. There are so many material ways we can work to make the world a better place.

Our power lies with each other.

So yeah. Don’t be a doomer. Or, be a doomer in the trenches with us.

#blacklivesmatter