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Cynicism and Naïveté in the Summer of a Thousand Fires

Rebecca Solnit · 6 Aug 2026

Read the piece on meditationsinanemergency.com ↗

3 korrents from this piece ↓

Rebecca Solnit did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

  1. Our reading

    It is possible to go carbon neutral or carbon negative.

    Their wordsAs for the "no stopping it," it is actually possible to go carbon neutral or carbon negative (if not currently likely).

  2. Our reading

    Human nature is malleable and shaped by societal beliefs and values.

    Their wordsThe simplest response to that is that there is no one human nature: we are a malleable species, much shaped by the beliefs and values of the society we're from, and the same society, even the same family, can produce wildly varying specimens of humanity.

  3. Our reading

    In sudden disasters, people tend to revert to a default setting of solidarity and grassroots organizing.

    Their wordsGiven that reality, it's striking that in sudden disasters people seem to revert to a default setting of solidarity, generosity, bravery, and a glorious capacity for grassroots organizing to meet the needs of the moment.

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