An Endless Nightmare
President Joe Biden just moved to shut down the southern border. The timing couldn't be worse.
LISTENING: "you'd have to stop the world just to stop the feeling"
FEELING: really fucking confused
SEEING: my cat's hair get blown everywhere by my AC
It's officially air conditioning season in New York City. It's hot as balls, and there's no way I'm going to suffer without some artificially cooled air. And then, I remember how lucky I am to live this way. To have reprieve the push of a button away. That's not true for many people around the globe.
The ones who come to mind today, however, are the migrants and asylum seekers who walk through the southwestern desert with hopes of reaching the U.S. In the Southwest, the first heat wave is underway with temperatures in the triple digits ahead of the season schedule.
During the past weekend alone — the first weekend in June — U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded four deaths. In 2022, the agency confirmed 365 deaths related to extreme heat in the border region, a nearly 67 percent increase from the 219 deaths recorded in 2021.
That number is only likely to increase with President Joe Biden's recent executive order to shut the border to asylum seekers.
Welcome to Possibilities, a creative climate newsletter on the possibilities that lie where crisis meets community. I’m Yessenia Funes, and I'm sick of being disappointed.
º ⋱・♡ Celebrating a Year of Possibilities ♡・⋰ º
Thanks for being a subscriber. June marks one whole year of publishing this newsletter, and none of this would be possible without your support. Shout out to all of you, but especially my paid subscribers. There are 380 subscribers, 90 of whom pay to support my work. You are all SO engaged, actively opening over half of my emails and clicking on links to engage with all that share.
Since I launched Possibilities, I've worked directly with photographers to amplify their work. I have a long way to go — especially to meet my goal to pay them for their art and to invite paid writers to contribute — but y'all make it possible. Forward this edition to a friend to celebrate our anniversary. Tell your friends to subscribe!
I'll have more to share on this next week. Seriously, love y'all.